AN So I was reading Who Am I the other day and just wanted to pull my hair out the story had gotten so off of task that I decided to rewrite the whole blasted thing. It drove me nuts that somehow my whole story had taken a detour and I couldn't figure out how to fix it without rewriting it so I decided to do just that. Even if you have read the story before than read please read it again hopefully I'll be able to keep it on task this time… and update frequently. Please read and respond especially old readers that might want to tell me if they like the changes or not.
Who Am I?
Chapter one
A Change in Perspective.
It was a hot day and for some reason the cooling system at school seemed to be lagging behind. Yes a few select rooms were cool but the ones that had outside windows seemed to swelter. This was going to be a hot summer it was easy to tell.
I was sitting in Government bored out of my mind, today was the last day of the school year and after this class I would be officially graduated from High School. I had finished my test nearly half an hour ago and now I was just doodling on my notebook trying to entertain myself until the final bell rang.
My teacher Mr. Nix was watching the class and saw that I was bored out of my mind "Eliza if you are finished why don't you turn in your test and then you can go to your locker and get a head start on cleaning it out."
I smiled at the sweet teacher than got up setting my test on his desk and then grabbing my stuff and leaving the class room.
Yes I'm Eliza Teki senior at Lewis Cass High School, I turned 18 back in September and am looking forward to leaving this school and going onto college. I had considered going into the military for a long time, actually I had spent most of the last 5 years participating in a youth military organization called Civil Air Patrol but after five years my mind had changed and I thought I would spend time in college before making up my mind about the military.
A soft buzz filled the air before the lights flickered briefly, the shock of the flickering lights had worn off days ago because this had occurred numerous times over the past two weeks and they always stopped flickering after about five minutes.
I let out a sigh and closed my eyes tilting my head back, I was trying to imagine what this summer would bring and what the future may hold for me. I was startled out of my daydream when I felt a sharp prick on the back of my neck. "Heeeey…."
The next thing I knew the world drifted from in front of me in a blur of colors.
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My head was pounding and I was cold. Something wasn't right with that observation my mind was screaming at me, which in turn made my head hurt even more. Groaning I attempted to open an eye. The room was dark so it didn't really hurt all that much so I opened the other eye.
Startled by what I saw I jumped slightly bumping my head on the low ceiling of my cell. "What the hell!" I growled trying to stand up but was prevented by the cramped space. Taking a few deep breaths I started to observe my surroundings.
I was in a cage plain and simple A solid bottom, Solid top and four walls of bars. My mind was racing but the pounding kept me from truly figuring out what was going on, my mind just could not wrap around it.
Groaning I decided to close my eyes and wait, someone was bound to eventually come to see how I was doing, I mean why would they capture me if they were just going to leave me in here to rot.
It felt like days went by though my guess was probably only twenty hours or so, the simple boredom of the solitude made time seem to stand still. My stomach was roaring at me and my head ache had only gotten worse as time had gone by.
I was startled when the wall in front of my cage made a strange noise than slid open. I had almost been asleep hoping that sleep would dull the pain that threatened to rip through my scull at any moment.
"Hello pet, sorry it took me so long to come and visit I needed a bit of a rest before I came to start working with you."
I growled kicking at the cage door. "Let me out! This is inhumane! I'm a human being you cannot treat me like some animal! Release me or so help me the moment I get out of here I'm going to skin you alive than slowly dissect you while you are still breathing!"
The man in front of me let out a chuckle shaking his head "Oh my you are a feisty little tiger aren't you. Now stop with the threats and maybe I'll be nice enough to tell you what is going on."
Rearing back I spit in his face shoving my shoulder against the hard metal of the bars. They were harder than anything I had felt before and my shoulder screamed but I kept a stoic face showing no pain or emotions but distain and anger.
The man glared as he removed my spit from his cheek. "That wasn't very nice pet perhaps I'll leave you alone for a bit longer hopefully that will clear your head"
With that he left yet again and I was left in the dark silent cage. My mind reeled, why had I done that true I didn't much like the man but he was probably the only one here that could explain the situation to me.
This time it truly was days before anyone else came to visit with me, it wasn't the strange man in the labcoat. There were two rather bulky men who came in and opened the cage without giving it much thought if I could fight back.
The moment the cage door opened I pounced I wouldn't let these jerks take me anywhere. My nails had grown longer in the last few days and using my nails, teeth and skills I had learned in my short stent of Karate I fought back doing my best to struggle against the enormous duo.
I got a few good hits in and the large hairy man now had a bleeding gash across his left cheek from where my thumbnail had dug in and ran from his ear to his chin. They restrained me grunting and snorting at my 'pathetic' attempt to escape.
I finally stopped struggling now a bit curious as to where they were taking me. My question was answered when tweedle dee, my name for the man with the new gash on his cheek, grunted "Guess you're showers going to be extra cold today muttie hope you like em cold"
My mind tried to wrap around the few words from tweedle dee and something stood out he called me a muttie… what was that about… some weird pet name or something.
To say my 'shower' was cold would be an understatement. The water had to be just above freezing. And it wasn't much of a shower tweedle dee and tweedle dumb had shoved me into a corner of a white shower room than pulled out a hose and hosed me down clothing and all. I felt like a drowned rat.
My t-shirt and jeans were heavy on my every shrinking frame, I hadn't ate or drank anything in days, my guess would be four. Tweedle dumb tossed me what looked like a sports bra and some black spandex biking pants. "Get dressed muttie your day isn't over yet Doctor Mundus is waiting for you in the lab"
I was grateful when they turned around so that I could change. I still felt rather exposed even after changing. Tweedle dee grabbed my arm and started to drag me out of the room I wanted to struggle but I had no energy left and I was getting light headed from lack of food and water.
I stumbled along after the duo trying to keep pace but every step seemed to drain more and more of what little energy I had left. The hallway we walked down was dull gray and had a few scattered doors.
They finally turned to one of the doors and opened it before escorting me in. The moment we entered I saw the man from before he nodded towards a table that looked like the one at my doctors office and the two men forced me to sit down. I was just about to get up when they quickly tag teamed me and strapped my legs and wrists to the tale. I was still sitting up but I couldn't get off the table. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
My voice was harsh and raspy from lack of use and lack of fluids. The man know known as Doctor Mundus just gave me a rather crazy smile and reached over getting his chart. "Amanda Elizabeth Lockwood subject number 328-04-7328, age 18. If you are willing to sit quietly I'll tell you what you are doing here and perhaps even tell Mark and Darle to get you some food and water after we are finished here."
I debate on growling and snarling at him again but I hang my head, my stomach has taken over and told me to shut up and listen. "Fine" I rasp out and turn my head away in shame.
Doctor Mundus smiled and flipped a few pages. "You are part of what is known as the project X experiment. This experiment is actually a set of experiments to change or remove what is known as the x gene. You were our control, we discovered a serum that diluted the x gene making it less potent. You were sent to another dimension after birth to be switched with your counterpart. Your birth mutation is feline like instincts and senses. You have enhanced sense of smell, taste, speed and healing abilities and your behaviors tend to mirror that of a tiger giving you the nick name Tigress on all our paperwork. We wanted to see how a diluted Mutant would enteract with other humans if they did not know that they were mutants."
I wanted to scream and yell and claw his eyes out but I couldn't I was too weak and about to pass out. I just nodded and slumped on the table. Basically the man just told me that my whole life had been a lie and I could feel the world crumbling around me.
It was only after he had stuck a very large needle into my arm that I let out a loud YOWL and started to struggle again. I hated needles they were my worst nightmare and I would have probably puked if I had anything in my system to puke up. "What are you doing"
By this time my voice was nearly a whisper because my throat was so dry. "I am counteracting the gene dilution so that you can return to your former disgusting mutant self and we can start our new regiment of tests. You have just completed your previous assignment and now we will start the new one. Your mutation is perfect for our weapons portion of project X"
At this point I was swaying back and forth between the lack of food and water the stress from everything I heard had me nearly passing out. I blinked a few times and growled gathering the very last liquid in my mouth and spit in his face, it was pathetic only a small dribble of spit but it got my point across. Seconds later the world seemed to shift and I was out cold yet again.
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When I woke up again it was back in my cage my body was screaming at me and my guess was that the crazy doctor was just going to let me rot after that little display but a very small plate of food and a bowl of water sat in front of me. I was offended by the bowl of water but I quickly ate the cold mush that tasted somewhat like oatmeal and picked up the bowl of water and sipped at it slowly.
I needed to figure out a way out of this place before the doctor decided that I was fit for the next phase of my experimentation. I couldn't figure out why my body hurt so much but my guess was from the gene dilution reversal. I just hoped I didn't turn out to be some fuzzy creature that looked subhuman.
The pain went on for days and I rarely slept. Amazingly every day when I slept I would wake up with a small bowl of mush and water. It was helping me gain my strength back and for that I was happy. Something else was also giving me strength as well and I guessed it was my mutation.
One day I woke up and my body felt fine. There were no aches or pains even though I had been stuck in a tiny cage for nearly two weeks my stomach even had stopped hurting and I also noticed that my eyesight had improved I actually had to remove my contacts so that I could see. If my guess was correct than my mutation had kicked in fully and that means that Doc Mud would start poking and prodding me any day now.
That guess turned out to be right because not even minutes after that thought had crossed my mind Doc Mud, Tweedle Dee (Mark) and Tweedle Dumb (Darle) walked in. They opened the cage and quickly grabbed my arms and legs learning from their previous experience with taking me out of the cage.
"Time for a quick shower than we will start the procedure wouldn't want to risk infection we aren't sure how complex your healing is. Four of our six previous test subjects died during the procedure one was a success but went awol and we had to put him down, the final subject survived but she wasn't a very skilled weapon she was killed by the other experiment before he was put down. Be proud Tiger you are one in a long line of projects Snake, Wolf and Spike all died, Wolverine and Death Strike survived the procedure but failed to survive afterwards. We have high hopes for you Tigress lets see if you can live up to them."
I was scared now the idea that 66% of the subjects died made my skin crawl I just prayed that I lived through it so that I could kill the tro in front of me. They deserved a slow and painful death for all they put me through so far.
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I wished that the 'project' would kill me the pain was like nothing I had ever even imagined in my worst nightmares. They had sliced me open and grafted a metal called adamantium they had sliced open my arms and implanted two strange blades all the while muttering about the Wolverine and how they had worked better than the nail claws of Deathstrike. I had survived the procedure and been tossed back into my cell nearly eighteen hours later blood covered my body and I couldn't move or breath properly. My mind kept screaming let me die but the growing urge to kill the evil trio kept me going. I was going to make them suffer when I killed them nothing would stop me from slowly skinning them alive with these strange new claws they had given me.
For nearly three days I was left alone to heal, after a restless night of sleep my body was mostly healed so I thought I would test out my mutation and new abilities that the 'good' doctor had given me. I cautiously let my new claws slide out of my hands. It hurt it felt like two knives were cutting my arms open from the inside out. The blades when fully extended were about an inch and a half longer than my finger tips. There were two of them they were on each side of my middle figure and when tested against my thigh they were sharper than any knife I had ever seen before. I noticed blood around the area's where the blades had left but it wasn't a large amount Doc Mud must have done something to make the claws avoid any major veins or arteries.
My leg took about a minute to heal but it fully healed so that not even a scar showed on my smooth flesh. Looking at my claws than at the bars I tested them. Taking a quick swipe at the bars they clashed the metal must have been the same because nothing happened but a few sparks.
I let out a fierce growl and repeatedly struck at the bars eventually wearing myself out. I settled down in a corner of my cage waiting, Doc Mud had said just before leaving me here that there was one final step to my procedure and then I would be sent to a separate facility to train. Tweedle dee and Tweedle Dumb came in to taunt me many times during the day and even occasionally would talk to me about the previous experiments. My interest lay in Wolverine he seemed to be the strongest as well as the one that Doc Mud had designed my metallic structure after.
The male seemed interesting a mutant with a healing ability to put my own to shame healing in seconds instead of minutes nearly acting like the animal he was named after at all times. He had been in the military when project X had discovered him he was a born killer and had fought like the devil until he had escaped. He had fought with Lady Deathstrike than after killing her had drowned under a lake where the main facility had been hidden.
The boys also talked about Doc Mud and how he had cofounded it with Stryker who had been killed at the facility with the two previous subjects. It was boring and aggravating at the same time to hear about all the lives this project had ruined but it kept her mind distracted from what was to come.
