Blood. Wait no. On second thought, it was blood and bleach maybe? She didn't know. Coming back into consciousness, her mind was reeling. Opening her eyes, she saw darkness. The silhouette of a bed was barely distinguishable in the corner of her cell. Light filtered in from a single window on the ceiling. With her head still pounding, she assessed her physical state. Wearing a flimsy hospital gown, there were various bandages covering her person. Oddly enough, there was not a speck of dirt on her. Surgery, she thought. But what was done to her she didn't know- if she had had more medical training she would know that from the extensive bandage covering her femur that they had taken a bone marrow sample. She was drugged to hell and back, what was her name again? There was that anxiety setting in. She didn't know a damn thing about herself- no memories, no identity. Side effect of the surgery? It was possible they did more to her than they let on. Barely strong enough to stand, she wobbled over to the door of the cell, trying to get a grasp on her surroundings. The hand grasping the bars of the window had a metal cuff on that wrist. It was restraining something; she could feel in deep in her bones. Pushing her long jet black hair out of her face, she could see into the cell across the hallway. Nothing. She crumpled to the floor as her legs gave out. Curling into a ball, nerves on edge, she began shaking. Hours passed, and then a door slammed. Light poured into the hallway, as well as two doctors carrying a body.
"She put up quite a fight." One of them chuckled. He sounded older- fifties maybe?
"We got what we needed. Jones wants to run the blood samples tonight so we can figure out the next step. If the chromosomes can be isolated its possible we can induce a mutation. I've never seen DNA quite like it Greg."
"I got some bone marrow samples from the other one. That may provide some answers."
"Did Doctor Mills identify them? I don't think they have ID bracelets."
"She just referred to them as Subject 1 and 2, but I think she knows more than what she's letting on."
She saw the door to the other cell being opened, a flash of curly red hair and a hand, and heard the thud of the woman's body being tossed onto the floor. She cringed.
"It's weird Frank, I just ran initial analysis of the X chromosomes, and found a familial link between them. I'm almost positive they're sisters." Sisters? She had family? Well, maybe not anymore- she had no idea if the red haired woman was still breathing.
"Who cares? You know how dangerous they both are, why we had to wipe their memories. Doctor Mills was insisting on it."
"Cora can be a piece of work, that's for sure. Come on, I hear they found a third." Third what? Third body? Who were they, and why did the name Cora sound familiar?
The next morning, the door to her cell was thrust open and she was dragged out by the two men that she saw the day prior. They looked at her like an animal, and it unsettled her.
"Can you tell me your name?" She stared blankly at them, shaking her head.
"Alright. Total amnesia is what we wanted in the first place. Let's see if you can walk." Two steps later and they had to support her weight all the way to the medical clinic.
"It's too bad, she sure is a pretty one." Greg smacked Frank on the back of the head.
"Did you forget this freak of nature has magic? We don't know what she is." The word was whispered so quietly she almost didn't hear it.
"Ah, good morning Doctor Mills, we were just about to prep Subject 1 for the extraction procedure." The woman that entered the O.R. sent chills down her spine. She had a commanding presence and a permanent smirk etched on her face. Her smile was false and her laugh cold and calculating. The dark haired woman knew in her gut that she wasn't to be trusted, and she didn't want anything to do with her. Cora grabbed her face before she could move away.
"I was only trying to give you your best chance. I'm sorry it had to come to this, my sweet princess." Again, that last part was said quietly so that the other two wouldn't hear it. There was no comfort in that statement.
"Who are you?" Her voice cracked as a single tear made its way down her cheek.
"Your mother." She slipped into unconsciousness.
Subject 2 rejoined the land of the living a full day later. She was even weaker than her sister- they had drained her of most of the blood in her system. The cement floor was cold and hard on her back, the lack of care after surgery didn't help things. Groaning, she rolled over onto her stomach, tucking her arms underneath her, landing on the same cold metal cuff that her sister had. Her eyebrows creased in confusion, what was that? It was nothing like an ID bracelet or a nice piece of jewelry. Knowing that she was too weak to try and pry it off, she sat up, leaning against the wall panting. Where was she? How long had she been here? And more importantly, what the hell was her name? Surely she didn't have amnesia? Becoming paranoid, she looked down at her arms, noticing needle puncture marks needed for drawing blood. Her legs had them too. She put two and two together after seeing the hospital gown she was dressed in. Someone had performed unconsented surgery on her. Her mind reeling, she twirled a strand of red hair around her finger. The doctors would pay for what they had done.
Floor Alpha was filled with the screams of Subject 3. Horrible, bone chilling sounds of pure torment. It all began with her struggling against the bounty hunters that brought her into the institute. She had seen what had happened to two of her kind, and there was no way in hell she was going to be subjected to the same fate. Returning to the urn that had kept her captive for 28 years would be a better alternative than what lay ahead. They had come for her in the middle of the night, how they found her she didn't know. She was able to freeze one of them with her magic, but they were prepared in sheer number. They forced on her a metal cuff that completely blocked her abilities, and after that she was an easy target. "What do you want from me?" She yelled, fighting against the man that pinned her down.
"Your magic. Now that the secret's out, do you know what this would do for our soldiers? The United States army would be unstoppable." She paled. Having read enough history books during her time in Storybrooke, she knew this was going to end badly. As she looked up at her captor, half her earlier wish was granted as the urn made an appearance.
They let her out back at the institute, where a medical team was waiting with an O.R. prepped. "Begin procedure 1- memory wipe and initial tissue samples."
"You can't do this! You have no right-" She was being strapped down by the assisting surgeons.
"Now don't move, this may hurt."
"Name check. Who are you?" She barely registered the voice talking to her, everything hurt and she was sure that she was going to pass out soon.
"Queen Ingrid of Arendelle." Pure malice laced her tone of voice.
"She needs another dose." For the second time, the specialized needle punctured her cervical spinal column and she screamed.
The screams penetrated down to Floor Beta where the "recovery ward" was housing the two other resident witches. It was enough to make them both wish they were deaf, so they wouldn't have to hear suffering that wasn't their own. Over the course of the week, they had sort of bonded with one another, having conversations through their cell doors
"Who do you think that is?" Subject 1 asked to her cellmate.
Subject 2 cringed. "Some poor soul like us. I just wish they would end it already, knock the poor thing out."
"Hey 2? Have you seen Doctor Mills in person?" There was a long pause.
"Yes. She gave me this appraising look and said 'you have so much wasted potential'. She also said she was my mother. I'm not sure I believe her."
"Strange. She said the same to me right before I was knocked out for the third time. I'm sure she's the one behind all this."
"Whatever is going on- the key to it all is our names. She's going to great lengths to make sure we never find out who we are."
"What do they want from us? Clearly it's something within our DNA, I overheard that, but its almost like…. we're not entirely human, as crazy as that sounds."
"I heard that too. Our only option is to break into the lab and find the research notes. I am not dying down here like a caged, half-starved, neglected animal."
"What's the plan?"