Experiment #459

I was suspicious about this job from the moment they pitched it to me.

I had been doing jobs off and on for the Damascus organization for years at that point, capturing traitors, tracking down people of interest, all the dirty work that a hot-shot organization like theirs wouldn't want to do themselves. They ran half the city after all, image was important.

They paid me enough that I knew they trusted me, but they never asked for something like this before.

"Your mission is to infiltrate the Nightingale group's headquarters and steal one of their experiments."

So many red flags.

First of all, I'm a bounty hunter. I find and capture people. Break-ins and theft aren't in my area of expertise.

But more importantly, I never would have predicted they would want me to be part of their little feud with Nightingale.

The two organizations had been at a sort of cold war for decades at that point. The status quo was set: Damascus controlled the production and industry, Nightingale controlled the medical organizations. They ran the city in the shadows while the government served as a placeholder under both of their thumbs. I never asked to take part in their rivalry, I never wanted to.

But the number they had pitched to me was higher than any I had ever been offered before. That number meant I could stop taking jobs for at least a year. I could get back on the straight and narrow and support my sister honestly.

Tara was the only reason I ever even started this work. She had a future. She had the potential to leave this hellhole and actually do something worthwhile. She deserved better.

That's why I accepted the job despite my misgivings. It's none of my business what Damascus wanted some experiment for. Get in, get out, get paid.

My regular contact at Damascus, who from the beginning told me to call him Mars, didn't give me much information.

"We have it from a reliable source that the experiment in question is being held here," he pointed at the hologram on the table mapping out the facility.

"What kind of experiment is this?"

"That's not something necessary for you to know."

I folded my arms.

"This isn't some frivolous question, Mars. I need to know these things. Is it fragile? Is it something physical, or like a program? This is information I need to pull this off."

He sighed.

"Honestly, I agree with you, but my hands are tied. I can't tell you anything more."

"Fine. When do you want this experiment?"

"As soon as possible. You'll get a bonus if you can get it to us in three days."

We talked a little more until I was ready to leave, but he stopped me before I got to the door.

"Rachel?"

I turned around curiously.

"Be careful. Nightingale can get really nasty."

That was odd. Damascus had always used me as a commodity. I never thought any of them actually cared about me. Maybe they didn't, but Mars seemed to care at least a little.

I nodded before I left.

*****

The operation was ready by the following evening. Unlike Damascus, Nightingale had their main headquarters outside the city, so I didn't have many places to make a quick escape to.

My plan for getting in was to hide inside one of their shipments. Once a worker came in to inspect the products I was able to shoot her with a tranquillizer and steal her uniform.

This was an occasion where being a woman was a huge asset to the mission. Damascus was mixed, but Nightingale was made up of 100% females. It would be impossible for a man to blend in here.

Still, the tranquillizer would last three hours at most and if anyone read my nametag they'd know something was wrong. The worker I was impersonating wasn't a tall black woman. I needed to move quickly.

The experiment was being kept in a part of the building most of the workers didn't have access to, so I needed to use the ducts to get in, which took a while. Thankfully when I got the experiment I could just walk out peacefully.

There was almost nobody here, just a few women walking around hurriedly, so I was able to slip by and keep my head down. It was at the end of the day, most of the employees were on their way out.

Soon enough I was at the door I was looking for. The password Damascus got from their informant worked and I went in after making sure the coast was clear.

This room was pitch black, so I had to find the light switch with a flashlight. The first one I tried didn't turn on the overhead lights, but it did illuminate my target.

That was when I knew I was in trouble.

When I heard "experiment" I was picturing some medicinal formula, a little gadget, generally something I could put in my bag and walk out with. But that assumption was completely wrong.

At the other side of the room was a giant tube, now illuminated with a bluish light. And floating in that tube was a boy.

Walking closer, I saw that he was very short and looked like a teenager. His eyes were closed and he floated in whatever liquid was inside the container, breathing through a tube attached to a mask over his mouth and nose. The kid was completely nude, but that was probably the least weird thing about it all.

I looked through the nearby desk and pulled out a file. Underneath a picture of him was a label.

Experiment #459

Well, that confirmed it. He was the experiment I was after. There's nothing else in this room it could even be.

Now everything was starting to make sense, why they were so vague about my mission, why they got somebody who retrieved people to get an experiment instead of a thief.

I cursed under my breath. There went my plan. Even as small as he was I couldn't just put him in my bag and walk out the building. But it was too late now. I had to finish what I started.

I skimmed through the file and found only very basic information.

Height: 62 inches

Weight: 117 pounds

Physical age: 18 years

What the hell did physical age mean?

Clearly I wouldn't be getting the answers I wanted. All the secret information was probably in their computers, which I didn't have access to.

I looked back at the experiment.

He was very pale, even in the dim light I could see that his skin was extremely fair. His hair was medium length and black as night. He seemed to be just on the cusp of looking abnormal: his skin was pale, but not enough to look unhealthy. His body was thin, but not so thin that he looked weak.

For whatever reason, I was fascinated by this kid, whoever or whatever he was. Without really thinking, I reached out and touched the glass.

The instant my hand came into contact, all the lights in the room turned on at once. A red light on the wall was blinking that hadn't before.

Shit. I couldn't know for sure, but I my instincts told me that I had triggered some sort of silent alarm. I put my ear to the wall and listened. Very faintly, I could hear an alarm going off somewhere else in the building.

"God damn it," I muttered.

I was so pissed at myself for my carelessness. But I had to think quick or else I was going to get caught.

I set my jaw. Stealth was no longer necessary. Might as well make it loud.

I picked up a chair and swung it as hard as I could, though I didn't follow through when I felt the glass break. That set off a real alarm I could hear clear as day. Liquid went everywhere and I rushed forward to grab the experiment, taking off the mask and shaking him awake. If he could walk I had a slightly better chance of getting out of this alive.

"Kid, wake up!" I yelled.

His eyes snapped open and he looked panicked.

"What? What's going on?" His voice was weak and timid.

"There's no time to explain. I'm getting you out of here. You can either come with me or I'm going to force you."

He blinked a few times, giving me a look I couldn't identify.

"You want us to leave here?"

"Yes, now hurry up!"

I grabbed him by the wrist and ran out the room. I tried to remember the map of the building in my head and went to a hallway where one of the walls led outside. Thankfully we didn't come across anyone. I'm sure all the workers had a place they went to during emergencies.

"What are you doing?" he asked quietly.

"I need to blow a hole in the wall." I got in my bag and pulled out a remote detonating bomb.

"Wait!" He grabbed my arm.

"What?" I asked, losing my patience.

"Where are you putting the bomb?"

"The wall? What the hell does it matter?" I pointed to the wall right in front of me.

"You can't! If the wall was destroyed there, the ceiling would collapse on us!"

That gave me pause.

"What makes you say that?"

His big eyes looked right at me.

"We...we can't explain it, but we can just see it. You need to put the bomb somewhere else."

"Where else? We don't have time for this!"

"Please, give us a second!"

He turned and looked at the long wall in front of us. His eyes were darting around quickly, like the wall was a giant book he was reading incredibly fast.

A moment later he ran over and put his finger on the wall a few feet away.

"Here!"

He sounded sure. I made the snap decision to trust him and attached the bomb there. Once again grabbing his arm, I ran around the corner.

"Cover your ears," I warned.

He did so and I activated the detonator. An explosion shook the building, but thankfully there weren't sounds of the ceiling coming down. Either the experiment was right about the wall or he got lucky.

In the distance I heard doors open and close, followed by footsteps. We had to leave right now.

Without a word I ran us out the hole in the wall and into the woods. Still moving, I pulled out my phone and turned on the tracker for my bike, which I had hid in the surrounding forest beforehand.

When we got to the bike I took a second to look at the experiment. What the hell was I going to do now?

We needed to get out of here immediately. I didn't have time to think about anything else.

He was still naked, so I took off my jacket and told him to put it on.

"You don't have to do that, ma'am. We're not cold."

"That's not what I'm worried about. Right now you stick out like a sore thumb. People don't just run around without clothes on."

I couldn't see very well in the night, but I was pretty sure I saw him blush.

"Oh...we hadn't thought about that."

I almost laughed.

A few seconds later he was behind me, holding on tight as I drove my bike. My mind was racing. The obvious course of action would be to go directly to the rendezvous point and drop off the experiment, but something in me resisted that idea. Instead I needed somewhere for us to hide, if only for a few hours. From what I could tell, Nightingale had no way to know who I was just from what happened tonight. If I wanted somewhere to lay low, it was entirely possible to just go to my apartment.

I breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't done yet, but the hard part was over, and there was only one more step.

But even so, I needed answers first.

*****

My apartment building is in the middle of the city, so I was nervous the entire trip back. Thankfully, nobody stopped us.

Finally we made it to my door and went in. The experiment turned to me the moment he was inside.

"Thank you for lending us your jacket, ma'am. Here you go." He took it off and held it out.

I raised an eyebrow and took it.

"You're welcome."

I looked at him, not appearing to care in the slightest that he was naked in front of a woman he didn't know. In fact, all things considered he was taking the night's events really well.

"What's your name?"

"We're Experiment #459, ma'am."

"That's not your name, that's your number."

"Well, it's...it's all we have, ma'am."

"Stop calling me ma'am, my name is Rachel."

"We're sorry, ma—Rachel."

This kid was so polite, but it seemed unnatural. Less like he wanted to be nice and more like he was scared I was going to lash out at any second. I told him to sit down at my kitchen table and got in the chair across his.

"Why do you talk like you're plural?"

"What do you mean?"

"You don't say 'me' or 'I,' you say 'we' and 'us.' Did the people at Nightingale tell you to talk like that?"

"Oh, well...we don't really know. It's just...just how we think. Does that bother you?" His voice hitched slightly, like he was nervous.

"I don't care, I was just wondering."

I could see his body relax. It was such a relief for him to hear that I wasn't angry. I remember how quickly he agreed to leave the facility. He didn't want to be there, and I was starting to put together why.

"What was Nightingale doing with you, exactly?"

"We're not really sure what you mean by Nightingale, Rachel."

"The place you were, the people there. Didn't they even tell you who they were?"

"They...they didn't tell us much. We were just supposed to be good and do what they told us. My Masters were really nice to create us and give us a place to live."

I could tell he didn't mean that. That response was programmed into him.

"Is it okay if we ask you some questions, too?"

I realized that he hadn't even asked me anything before that moment.

"Of course. You don't have to be nervous around me."

"Why did you steal us?"

That was an interesting word choice. He said that like he was an object and not a person.

"I was hired so that you can get a new home. Another organization wanted you."

"Are we their property now?"

"You're nobody's property. You're a person."

He shook his head.

"We're not a person. We're my Master's possession. But will we get a new Master?"

Another programmed response.

"I don't know."

He clearly had no real loyalty to Nightingale, but they had done their work in his head. This was starting to get really dark. What was Nightingale planning with this? And why did Damascus want him? I looked in his eyes. They were an icy gray, but so wide and innocent. He really did look like a normal boy, but he had been shaped into something else.

It didn't seem like he was going to give me the answers I wanted, so I figured there was no point interrogating him further. I stood up.

"Are you hungry?"

He gave the smallest nod.

"You can go relax over there," I pointed to the couch behind him. "I'll get you some food in a minute."

He nodded again. "Thank you, Rachel."

I smiled at him and went to my room. I had a call to make and he didn't need to hear it. Within seconds I was yelling into my phone.

"What the hell do you guys think you're doing? You sent me in there without telling me the most basic information!"

"I know, I know," Mars said apologetically. "I'm sorry, but like I said I couldn't tell you."

"So what, you just didn't want it done? Because I almost got caught! You sent me in there totally unprepared."

"I completely agree with you, Rachel. I promise we won't do this type of thing to you again."

"Why did you even do it this time? What was your motive for sending me in there blind?"

"Well...if we told you the truth we thought you'd probably say no—"

"Of fucking course I would! This is inhuman! The kid thinks he's an object! I don't want to be a part of this."

"You're not," he assured me. "We'll pick up the experiment, pay you, and you won't have to worry about it anymore."

"Then what? What about him? You're not doing this out of the kindness of your heart. What kind of things could you—"

"You're pushing your luck, Rachel."

He said that so forcefully I was struck dumb for a moment.

"Was that a threat?"

"It's a warning. You're not part of our group. Stay in your lane."

It felt unreal. In the two years I had known Mars, he had never talked to me like that. All things considered, he was pretty nice to me. Was that an uncharacteristic outburst? Or was that the mask slipping?

"This just doesn't feel right."

"What you consider to be 'right' is of no concern to Damascus." There was a pause before his tone lightened a bit. "When do you want us to pick it up?"

It took me a moment to realize what the "it" he was referring to was.

"Tomorrow night."

"Why not sooner? You don't have to keep it with you if—"

"He isn't my problem. Goodbye."

I hung up without waiting for him to respond.

After a few deep breaths I walked back to the kitchen and looked over at the experiment. He was on the couch, but he wasn't relaxed. He was sitting up straight, palms on his thighs. He looked like he was trying to take up as little space as possible. When he heard me walk in he looked over.

"You don't have to keep us any longer than you need, Rachel. It's okay."

I cocked an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure that's my decision."

He nodded. "We understand." There was just the slightest hint of relief in his voice. Once again I questioned whether this mission was worth it.

It was 11 PM by the time we were done eating and I was exhausted.

Before retiring to my room I put some blankets and a pillow on the couch.

"You can sleep here."

He nodded, but looked at the couch in a strange way.

"Is something wrong?"

He blinked a few times before looking at me.

"No, this is good, we just...we've only ever slept in our pod before. We've never slept laying down like this."

"Well, I don't have a giant glass tube, so you'll have to make do."

He nodded before laying on the couch.

"Goodnight," I said, turning to leave.

I heard his voice behind me.

"Goodnight. Thank you, Rachel."

I looked back and smiled.

"No worries."

*****

Something was wrong. I could feel it.

I had a gut feeling strong enough to wake me up, and without even stopping to think I got out of bed.

The experiment. I needed to check on him.

I was relieved for a second when I saw him on that couch, but my blood turned to ice when I got a closer look.

He was laying on his side, facing out into the room, and his eyes were wide open. Open and horrified. His entire body was trembling, but I could tell it wasn't from being cold.

I looked where he was facing but didn't see anything. For a moment I didn't move, but I had enough when I heard him gasp, choking on his own breath.

"Hey, wake up!"

This awakening wasn't as sudden as the one back at the facility. It took a few seconds for his eyes to focus instead of staring off into the distance. He was still trembling, but he was awake. Slowly, carefully, he sat up.

"Are you okay?"

He swallowed nervously.

"It's...nothing. Nothing at all. We're sorry we bothered you. You don't have to worry."

My hand shot out and grabbed his chin forcefully.

"You will not lie to me like that ever again, do you hear me? Tell me the truth!"

I saw a few different changes in his facial expressions in the next few seconds: first fear, then confusion, then something almost like awe. When I let go of him, I saw his eyes get shiny.

"We're sorry, Rachel."

"Don't apologize. Just tell me what happened."

He swallowed again before speaking quietly, almost like he was scared someone would hear.

"It's something that happens to us sometimes while we sleep. We wake up, but we can't move. We weren't allowed out of our pod without permission anyway, but when this happens, we can't even move our fingers."

I saw a tear leak out. He glanced quickly at the part of the room he had been staring at earlier.

"We're still for a few seconds, but every time this...thing comes. Something really scary. We can't describe it, but we know it wants to hurt us, even though it doesn't really do anything. It just stands there for a few minutes and then we fall back asleep."

His body shuddered a bit before he continued.