Chapter 1:

"Run, Iryna! Run and survive!"

Those were the words Iryna kept to her heart as she ran through the russian snow as fast as she could. The 9 year old was out of breath, but she couldn't afford to stop running. She couldn't let those men catch her. Iryna turned around to make sure she wasn't being followed, but all she saw was fire. Houses burning, people screaming, gunshots echoing throgh the air; it was a massacre.

"Там есть один! (There's one!)" She heard someone shout; amidst the flames she could see a man pointing towards her shouting to others. Snowmobiles quickly came from around the corner of her village and were making their way towards her, closing the distance between the two rapidly. Iryna panicked and kept on running, but there was no escaping such a machine. The snowmobile quickly past her and swirved to block her way, before another parked right behind her. Iryna was surrounded by four men, each dressed in black with ski masks on.

One of the men stepped forward towards Iryna. The young girl was shivering in place due to the cold and fear she was feeling, tears welling up in her eyes. A few moments passed before the man slapped Iryna across the face, sending the small child crashing into the snow.

"Мысль Вы могли бы уйти от нас?! (Thought you could get away from us?!)" The man shouted at Iryna angrily as she held her cheek with running down her face. The man turned to the others and gave them orders Iryna couldn't hear, but quickly understood as they went to grab her. The child tried her best to fight them off, but they were too strong for her as they easily tied her up and attached her to one of the snowmobiles. The engines started up once again, taking Iryna back to her now ruined village.

It was a long ride in the back of an old, busted up truck. Iryna felt every bump and pothole in the road as they journeyed across Russia. It was barely lit inside the truck, but Iryna could still make a few familiar faces: people from her village, each one more terrified than the last. All of them were battered, bruised and cut, some crying as they all wondered what the hell was going to happen to them. Iryna kept to herself, crossing her hands between her legs with her head down: the last thing she wanted was to draw attention. Besides, she didn't see her parents in this truck. They could either be in another one, or they could be dead.

All of a sudden the trucks came to a halt causing everyone to turn towards the back doors. Footsteps could be heard around the vehicule before the hatch opened; armed gunmen stood on the other side yelling at everyone to get out. It didn't take them too long as soon everyone was outside the vehicule. As Iryna climbed out she got a good look at where she was: all she could see were the gunmen that had kidnapped her mixed with men that didn't seem to be from around here. Iryna also noticed they were near the seafront where a massive ship was waiting by the bank, along with other trucks and vans unloading prisoners. There must have been a good hundred people taken from their homes.

However in all the chaos Iryna saw something that caught her eye. Two men were talking to each other, their eyes sometimes landing on the captives as they discussed. One of them was bald, wearing a pure white suit underneath a brown coat as he wore a sick grin on his face and smoked his cigar. A scar could be seen under his left eye. The other one was much more oddly dressed: he was wearing a purple suit underneath a dark purple coat that he had over his shoulders. On his head was a strange hat that stuck upwards, resting atop his short blond hair that complimented his blond goatee. In his hand was a stick with a beautiful gem that glowed green from time to time.

The man in the purple suit snapped his fingers as one of the men stepped forward; a suitcase in his right hand. He gave the suitcase to the one in the white suit, who opened it without hesitation and grinned when he looked inside. He slammed the case shut, a grin still on his face as the two shook hands, and the scarred man yelled to their kidnappers:

"Поместите их на корабль! (Put them on the ship!)" He yelled. Masked gunmen surrounded each of the groups of prisoners, yelling at them to get on the ship. Everyone followed suit as they were boarded one group after the other. Iryna followed their orders to the letter. She hadn't seen her parents anywhere amongst the prisoners, which means they were most likely killed. Now she was all on her own.

Iryna's group was forced onto the vessel. It was damp, unlit and cramped with people screaming, crying and begging to go home. Iryna was trapped between a dozen of prisoners all sharing her fate as the operation continued. After a few moments Iryna heard a guard yelling that everyone was one. The cargo hatch closed slowly as soon Iryna was shrouded in total darkness.

For the next month Iryna, along with everyone else in the cargo shipped lived in the most deplorable of conditions. Iryna found herself cramped among hundreds of prisoners just like her, and they found themselves having to share what little supplies and food they were given. Strangely enough though Iryna noticed they were being treated better than expected: Everyday and at the same time, the hatches above opened, letting in the warm sunlight as the men who had taken them dropped loafs of bread down below. There was also a moment in the day when a few of them men came inside to clean up the floors of anything the prisoners may have let out, while others kept the prisoners at gunpoint. Iryna had heard stories and whispers from other prisoners that all this was unheard of; they would normally never clean it up and let people die in their remains. It was like they wanted to make sure as many people as possible were kept alive.

However, that did not mean everyone was able to make it through the journey. Those who did succumb to the extreme conditions were taken away by the cleaners; Iryna suspected they were thrown overboard by the sound of splashes she heard when they were taken away.

During the trip Iryna kept to herself, huddling into a corner just waiting for something to happen. If it wasn't the extreme conditions that would get to her, it would be the extreme boredom she felt being cooped up in this dark and damp ship. She was still scared for her life and only knew a few people on this ship, so she decided not to trust anyone. People tried to speak to her, but soon gave up when she delivered no response.

Finally, the ship stopped and the engines died down. Everyone stood quietly; not a sound could be heard inside the ship as they all wondered the same thing: where were they? And was it over?

The cargo hatch slowly opened, the groaning of metal filling the room as light envelopped the inside of the ship. It took Iryna a few seconds to adjust to daylight again, but once she could see properly the young russian made her way to the front of the crowd, wanting to know what was happening. The same purple man was standing at the entrance surrounded by men who had guns pointed straight at them, along with a woman in a grey uniform with glasses and her brown hair tied up in a bun. All the russians were terrified as Iryna hid behind some of the men and women, not wanting to stand out.

"How many have we lost?" The man in purple asked.

"12 out of 100, sir." The woman beside him replied. The purple man nodded and gave a sign to the men dressed in beige suits.

"Get them on the trucks to CADMUS." He stated simply. The men nodded and loaded their guns. The woman stepped forward in front of the crowd and cleared her throat.

"You will now get down from the ship and climb into the trucks." The woman yelled in perfect russian. "Any commotion, discussion or rebellion will result in immediate termination."

The men surrounding her brandished their weapons towards the crowd. One after the other the villagers got down from the ship and were loaded onto the vans. Iryna could see them drive off into the distance when they were full, and soon it was her turn. In complete cooperation Iryna stepped out of the cargo ship towards one of the trucks; 19 other prisoners joined her and helped ther into the back of the vehicule. Once everyone was on the gunman slammed the door shut and the truck left for it's final destination.

"Are you sure about testing it on her? It could just be a waste of the serum." A man in a formal black suit asked, stroking his brown van dyke beard and moustache with a homberg covering his brown hair.

"Or it could be just the one Dr. Cervan told us about. Someone young to adapt better to the serum. Surely you can see the logic in that Hiram." The purple man, now in a mustard colored suit and Top hat mentionned. His words brought a smile upon the 3rd member of their group. He was dressed in a typical scientist's labcoat, with a blank uniform underneath. He had a receeding hairline and big round glasses that he adjusted every other moment. All three of them were standing face to face to a glass cell, with on the other side a 9 year old Iryna who was sitting in the corner with her legs tucked in and her arms around them. Beside her was a plate of half-eaten food as the young girl looked depressed.

"I concur with Mr. Phantom." Dr. Cervan chuckled, pointing to the man in the mustard suit. "The other subjects failed to survive because their bodies could not adapt to the serum that was being injected. This caused strain to the body and made them all succumb to heart failures.. But if we take someone who is still young, still growing.. Then the serum may have a better chance of adapting to the body. Besides, even if she does die it'll only mean we have one less mouth to feed." Dr. Cervan laughed darkly.

Hiram Lodge sighed, before snapping his fingers as four men with a cart showed up.

"Take her to the lab." Hiram ordered.

The four men saluted as Hiram, Phantom and Dr. Cervan left for the labs themselves. After swiping a card the doors slid open causing Iryna to look up in fear. Four men dressed in black with white coats were approaching her, one with a syringe in hand as Iryna backed herself even more against the wall. She suddenly took a running dash forward to try and escape between the guards and out the door, but one of them was faster and caught her. Iryna thrashed around trying to break free, but she soon felt the needle stick into the back of her neck as the young russian felt herself losing consciousness. Once Iryna was out the men attached her to the cart and made their way to the lab.

The three men from before were already inside the lab as the doors slid open and Iryna was wheeled in. As they attached her with I.V bags, sedatifs, heart monitors and other equipment Phantom made his way to Hiram.

"I have a good feeling about this one." Phantom chuckled as Hiram rolled his eyes.

"You said that about the last test subject. And the last one. And the 27 before that." Hiram noted as Phantom laughed again.

"It's better to be an optimist than a pessimist like you Hiram." Phantom called out.

"I prefer to call it being a realist, my friend." Hiram smirked as soon everything was in place. Iryna was attached to the chair by her arms and legs, unconscious with oxygen flowing through a mask and IV bags. Dr. Cervan looked at her properly, making sure his underlings didn't do anything wrong.

"Everything is set. It is time to start the operation." Dr. Cervan called out as everyone got in position. Hiram and Phantom took to their seats as Cervan walked over to a locked cabinet. The clicking of the key echoed across the room due to everyone being silent, as the doctor pulled out a syringe filled with a blue liquid. Giving it a few taps Cervan stared at Iryna before making his way up to her.

"Subject A-30 is about to come in contact with the serum. Prepare for analysis." One of his scientist acolytes mentionned in a walkie-talkie as Cervan loomed over an unconscious Iryna. Rubbing her arm at the joint Cervan quickly found a vein and pierced it with the syringe. Everyone held their breaths as the blue liquid slowly flowed into Iryna's system. Soon every drop was gone as the doctor pulled out the syringe from her body, and everyone watched with anticipation. Her systems seemed stable for a few moments, however soon her heart was pumping at a massive rate causing the monitors to go crazy. Cervan cursed his luck as his accolytes went to stabalize Iryna. Now the monitor was giving a long and constant beep.

"She's having a heart attack! Defibrilator!" One of them called out as Cervan joined up with Hiram and Phantom.

"I warned you two." Hiram mentionned as Phantom sighed.

"The reasoning made sense." Phantom defended he and the doctor, who just growled angrily.

"I need to re-work on the forula. It must be too potent fo-"

His words were cut off by a beep. Then another beep. Beep. Beep. The trio turned around and saw Iryna's heart monitor was stable. No one could believe it, it had succeeded! The serum adapted to her body, just like Cervan deduced!

However before they could celebrate their success, her heart once again got faster. But this time, something else happened. Iryna's eyes shot wide open. The scientist next to her didn't even have time to react as Iryna snapped her arm restraint in one clean motion and rammed her forearm into the scientist's chest. The man flew across the room, crashing into another heart monitor that exploded with sparks.

"She's breaking free! Call the guards!" Hiram shouted at the top of his lungs. Two other scientists tried to hold her down, but Iryna easily broke free of the rest of the restraints and their grasp. With the speed of a demon Iryna rammed her head into a scientist's jaw from underneath, the force of the blow causing his head to tear off completely and bounce away. The remaining one had a look of complete fear on him as Iryna stared him down like an animal, her eyes now golden and angry. With a pounce she rammed her fist through his torso before kicking him away and sending the new corpse crashing against the wall.

More security guards entered the facility, guns at the ready as they opened fire. Iryna jumped from the table she was strapped on and flipped it over with ease, before delivering a huge boot to it. The table was sent flying across the room, ramming into guards and sending them across the facility. Iryna looked around again, searching for more people to kill. But a sharp sting made the young girl flinch as she clutched her neck. She felt something sticking into her before she started to feel very weak. In a few seconds Iryna fell to the ground, unconscious once again. Hiram and Cervan's eyes were wide from the entire event as they turned to Phantom, who was holding a gun in front of him as he breathed heavily with a smile.

"Tranquilizer... Enough to knock out an elephant..." Phantom huffed and puffed. The three remaining men looked around at the remains of the massacre before their eyes landed on Iryna. They circled around the unconscious little russian, still not believing what just happened.

"Well gentlemen." Hiram called out. "I believe this was a success."