Disclaimer: I only own Isabelle Alexander. Other than that, the characters are only twisted into my own web of thought.

Chapter 1: Origins

oOo

One of the lab scientists took her blood pressure, while the other two filled six syringes with a green liquid. Because the lights in the lab were bright, the neon glow of the serum was hardly noticable... unless you knew what you were looking at.

Twenty something year old Senior Airman Isabelle Alexander was the thirteenth test subject in this department. She knew that she was free to stop the test at any time. She didn't know how dangerous the test actually was. She knew that if the test was successful, she might be the first to expierence the way of the future for the military. She didn't know that the previous twelve subjects had died. The latest one, in a matter of seconds.

The Guys in White were good at keeping things on a need-to-know basis. So Isabelle went into the laboratory for a test that she believed the worst case scenario would be, if she failed, she would be sick for a few days. That's what she had been led to believe.

"Please lie back on the table." The one that had been taking her blood pressure said.

Isabelle did just that, and as soon as she had settled with her arms and legs straight, the other two appeared on either side of her, and behan strapping her to the table. She had seen the restraints when she walked in, but she didn't think they would use them.

They wiped a brown disinfectant over the areas where they would be making the injections, while the first made a prick on her fingertip for a drop of her blood. The scientist let the blood soak into the strip before she took it over to a machine.

The two males grabbed and dragged a rolling cart over to the table and began injecting the ominous glowing green serum into Isabelle's bloodstream. Her heatrate could be heard thanks to the beeping moniter she was hooked up to. Her heart was beating a little fast, but it was nothing to be worried about. She was a little nervous.

Agents K and O watched from the elevated observing platform, behind a two way mirror.

"Five minutes have passed and subject's vitials show no change." The female scientist spoke into her audio recorder. Then to Isabelle she asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Just nervous. Otherwise no different." She repllied dutifully. Though as soon as the words had left her mouth, she expierenced a cold chill, and let out a shaky breath.

It went unnoticed by all the scientists who had gone back to tinkering with their equipment. But in the observation room, Agents K and O's eyes narrowed behind their sunglasses... that they were wearing indoors with the lights out for some reason.

One of the monitors Isabelle was hooked up to started to beep slowly. Not alarmingly. The female scientist was the only one to move, as she lifted her recorder back to her mouth. "Seven minutes into the test, and subject's internal temperature has begun to drop slowly."

"Is that normal?" Isabelle asked as she shivered again. Her breath begining to appear in the air.

Before anyone could answer, the monitor that had been beeping, began to speed up as her internal temperature began to drop rapidly. In response to that, her heartrate began to increase in an attempt to warm her back up.

Isabelle would have screamed in pain, but she was in shock at the sudden change in temperature. When she could finally catch her breath, the air was freezing by the time it reached her lungs. It was painful to breathe, so screaming wouldn't have been worth the effort.

When her heart started to hurt, she tried to grab her chest, only to be reminded of her restraints. That was when she started to panic, struggling against the straps as the pain got worse. The two male scientists responded to this by walking over, and holding down her arms and legs.

"...Help... me.." She managed to whisper before her eyes rolled back and the heart monitor flat-lined.

Agent O sighed heavily as the doctor began to set up his defibrillator. "There goes another."

oOo

"Get those straps off her." She heard a voice say. It was low and echoed. She could hear movement around her but her body felt numb. She opened her eyes to a world of fuzzy tracers. She couldn't seem to focus on anything.

"Clear!" The voice said. It was followed by a short hum and a loud crack. The crack was accompanied by a bright flast of light from all directions. That's when she realized it.

I'm dead. She thought.

"Clear!" The voice said again, but this time when the crack came, it was followed by an extra beep on the monitor.

NO! She thought in a panic. Don't let me die!

oOo

"Clear!" The doctor said, before shocking her with the chest paddles again. Every muscle in her body contracted at once, nearly lifting her off the table for a second, before she collapsed again.

This time, the heart monitor continued to beep steadily. Everyone silently held their breath for a minute, expecting her heart to stop again like all twelve previous subjects. When her heart continued to pump, everyone stood in silence, not believing what had just happened.

Once again, the female scientist was the first to move or say anything, as she lifted her recorder to her lips again. "S-subjects heart... stopped for a moment as with all previous tests. Resuscitation was successful."

The two male scientists grinned at each other, then whooped and gave each other high-fives. While Agents K and O silently smirked at each other.

Though alive, Isabelle was still unconscious, and so, oblivious to the celebration. Though even if she had been awake, she wouldn't have known what they were all so excited about.

oOo

Isabelle later awoke to the obnoxious beeping of her heart monitor. She was in her own room in the hospital located within the building. She had had to stay overnight in one of the rooms for observation before they had determined she would make a good test subject. She got up to go to the bathroom, but became light headed and short of breath after only two steps. She sank to the floor and caught her breath, now realizing that she felt as weak as a kitten.

After a few minutes of sitting alone in the dark, she heard noises. She placed her ear to the cold floor tile and discovered that they were voices. To her surprise, she could make out what they were saying. It was two men, arguing over a football game. She could hear the television as well.

Still too weak to stand, Isabelle managed to prop herself up on her hands and knees, and crawled to the bathroom, where she used the doorjam to help her stand up. She reached her hand over to turn on the lights, glancing at her reflection in the dark as she did.

Before the lights even came on, she screamed.

oOo

Authors Note: It is a short opening chapter. I expect the other chapters to be longer than this.