Hey guys! I miss writing my F4 story so here is the prequel=) by the way it was Cookie4Me that gave me the idea of writing it, but I wasn't sure whether I'd do that because I didn't know how exactly to write that. But recently the idea just popped in my head, hope you'll like it!
Just something I should tell: there might be some mismatches between how things were described in I Am Not Sure What Love is, but I Guess I Love You, that's because when I started this story I didn't have a clear idea of how it will end, so some things here are different, they match rather how things were in the end of that story.
And about Woods' rank. I didn't bother to look at the list of ranks before (sorry=) so let's say that in the I Am Not Sure… he was Major General. Then it will make sense.
November 17th, 1996
"Mommy, please! Mommy, don't leave me! Take me with you! Mommy!"
Tears were streaming down from eyes of a 10 years old girl lying inside of a huge device, wires and sensors all over her head. Pictures of happy families and mothers hugging their babies were appearing on a screen before her eyes and now she could barely see them through the tears.
"Brigadier General, I think that's enough," one of the men that were standing behind a glass, separating them from a girl in the device, was constantly checking monitors, where the girl's brain was depicted. About an hour ago it was showing different parts of the brain taking different colors as the pictures on the screen before the girl were changing, but about fifteen minutes ago all her brain was red. "She feels fear, anger, grief, disgust… I think she might be thinking on the moment her mother left her in the orphanage."
"Woods, that's enough!" one of the few women in the room, the one that was standing behind them all, said loudly.
Brigadier General Webster Woods, who was looking through the glass at the room where the girl was, looked back at the woman.
"Miss O'Connor, I don't think you should interfere in this business, it's not your competence," he answered coldly. "Besides, I don't quite understand why you are even in here."
"Let's not forget if it wasn't for me, Project Aquamarine would never take place and you would never be promoted to Brigadier General. In fact, if I say this project is unprofitable, you won't see another promotion. Still dream of being Major General?" the woman, Jeanette O'Connor, crossed her arms.
"Brigadier General…" one of the men interfered.
"Okay, finish this. Take her out," Woods headed towards the door into the room on the other side of the glass.
"I'll leave you, Woods, have to go," Jeanette O'Connor didn't look at the man and swiftly left.
Webster Woods looked back at her, huffed silently and entered another room.
The girl in there was meanwhile already free from all wires and sensors and was now hugging her sharp knees. She was still crying.
"Alexis?" Woods stepped closer to the girl and she looked up at him.
The man could barely hide the grimace of disgust when he looked at the girl's face. Her eyes were yellowish, her skin was covered in moss-like scales and she was bald. Even after seven months she has spent in their laboratories he couldn't get used to how ugly she was.
"Alexis," he started as softly as he could. "You have suffered a lot. We have promised you to end it and we will."
Alexis nodded swiftly several times. She looked desperate.
"But you have to agree to whatever we will need to do to help you," the man continued.
The girl nodded again.
"Even if it will cause you pain," Woods looked right into her sick eyes.
After a mere second of hesitation Alexis nodded again.
Woods forced a smile and left the room.
"Okay, let's start with it," he announced loudly.
"But… I am not sure we should do that," one of the man looked at Woods. "We have no idea what consequences there will be…"
"Have you seen that… thing? I can't even call it 'girl'," Woods stepped closer to the hesitating man. "There can't possibly be anything worse. Let's start."
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
November 22nd, 1996
"So?" Webster Woods entered the lab of the Washington building of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. "She woke up?"
"Only an hour ago, and we called you immediately. Almost three days in coma, since we moved her into this building and started the experiment," one of the men sitting near monitors responded. The laboratory took two stories and they were on the second one. Beneath them they could see an operating table with Alexis lying on it, people in white lab gowns around her.
"How are her vitals?"
"Considering her disease they are normal. Well, just as normal as they can possibly be."
"You checked whether we succeeded yet?"
"No, we were waiting for you."
"Good, let's start," Woods commanded.
Scientists beneath them tied the girl securely to the table she was lying on. Woods saw her mouth open but couldn't hear anything. He wasn't sure she was saying anything, she wasn't good at speaking.
One of the scientists took a device resembling a thick knife; he was holding it with precaution.
"The temperature is 212 F, the water boils at this temperature", someone told Woods but he only waved his hand disturbed. He was eyeing the scene beneath them attentively.
When a scientist touched the girl's leg with the device, Woods expected a yell of pain, but nothing came. The man could see the skin turning red where the contact took place, but the girl didn't even flinch.
"Nothing," a voice came from behind Woods.
He turned around and looked at one of the monitors where he saw different lines, depicting obviously the girl's vital signs.
"That's impossible," Woods murmured stepping closer.
"Why it is," another man staring at the screen huffed. "She doesn't feel anything. No body reflexes."
A pleased grin spread across Webster Woods' face.
"Good. Keep on, try cold, cuts… well, you know what to do. Contact me if necessary."
"Yes, sir."
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
November 24th, 1996
"Brigadier General, excuse me for calling you late…"
"I wasn't sleeping. What is it?"
"I think we overdid it…"
"Excuse me?"
"Remember that test we made, we were showing the girl pictures and checking her reactions…"
"Yes, and?"
"We made that test again, an hour ago, and… she doesn't feel anything."
"What do you mean?"
"Her brain parts, responsible for feelings and emotions, were active for about a minute, then – no reaction for an hour. No matter what pictures we were showing. So this means she can only have emotions, with which she copes swiftly, but no long-term feelings, like grief, pain…"
"What if she just forgot her past? Amnesia?"
"No, that's impossible. She remembers all that happened to her, well, before that coma…"
"She barely speaks, how did you?…"
"We asked her to write all that…"
"Okay then… well, the main thing is she can't feel physical pain, that was the aim of the experiment. Now we can do whatever we need. No limits."
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
January 21st, 2000
"Turman, what do you mean we succeeded but not exactly the way we wanted to?" Webster Woods was walking swiftly through the passageway towards the lab, accompanied by a man in white laboratory gown.
"When four years ago we started the experiments with the girl's DNA we have tried numerous different fishes genes, not knowing what exactly we are doing and what it can lead to…"
"I remember how we started," Woods pressed his lips together, irritated. "What do you want to tell me?"
"That we got something we could never think of…"
When they entered the lab the first thing Woods saw was the girl swimming in a huge pool. Alexis was now fourteen years old and Woods thought once again in about two years how beautiful she turned out to be. Her eyes, not yellowish anymore, were hazel-green, lashes were long and thick, and her hair, which was now until her shoulders, was reddish-bronze color.
Who would have thought, Woods huffed.
"So?" he turned to the scientist.
"Alexis, swim closer to us," Turman ordered loudly and the girl dived in.
"What?..." Woods though he was having delusions.
But when the girl swam closer he understood that it wasn't his eyes. Alexis had a fishtail. Some scales, but not the moss-like she used to have, were on her small breasts as well.
"What is that?" Woods murmured amazed.
"That is what I've been talking about, sir," the scientist responded. "And that's not all. Alexis, show your neck!"
The girl did as she was told and Woods saw gills on her neck.
"Jesus," he whispered. "But how?..."
"That is just what we got since Alexis woke up yesterday and was put in water."
"You mean it all… it all appeared in water?"
"Yes," Turman nodded.
"And how did she react?" Woods asked with interest.
"Well," the other man smiled lightly, "let's say it's a good thing she got rid of all feelings before. So her confusion lasted for about a minute."
"So… will she be that… mermaid thing for good?"
"No, no… look… Alexis…"
But the girl was listening to their talk and understood what she needed to do. Woods couldn't see what was happening underwater, but soon the gills on her neck and scales on her breasts disappeared.
"How does that work?" Woods asked after a while.
"We are not sure yet, but it seems like the scales hide under the epidermis when she is human. We still need to research into that, of course."
"I guess we also need to tell her that being naked in front of men is not very good for a young lady," Woods huffed.
"You've already seen me like this," an unknown voice came from the pool and Woods realized to his surprise it was Alexis.
"You speak?"
"For about two years already, since we've cured the ichthyosis," Truman replied for her. "All in all she seems a really intelligent girl, I must say."
"Really?" Woods raised his eyebrow. "Okay then… do you know what we all are doing here?" he bent down to the pool.
"Project Aquamarine," the girl responded. Her voice was calm.
"Right. So starting today you are no more Alexis Ria Pierce, do you hear me?"
"Yes."
"Your name is now Aquamarine. Forget about the life you've had before… not that there was anything worth remembering."
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
May 17th, 2001
Webster Woods was walking towards the laboratory of NGA New-York. The man was trying to hide his anger.
They are supposed to constantly report me on what they are doing! Why in hell aren't they?
When he opened the doors by typing his personal code on the panel nearby he heard a loud 'splash' and closed his eyes involuntarily. When Woods opened them he saw the space was now more of a battlefield then a laboratory. Some things were broken, water from the pool was all over the floor and inside of the pool there was a small storm.
"What is going on?" he yelled and suddenly someone grabbed his shoulder and made him sit down.
"Woods, carefully, don't let her see you…" it was Turman, the head scientist of the Project Aquamarine.
"Turman, report immediately…!"
"Aquamarine seems to have now control over water…"
"What?" Woods looked at the other man angrily. "What are you talking about? That's a nonsense!"
Another loud 'bang' came from the opposite side of the laboratory.
"We are here for about seven hours and Aquamarine is now testing her new powers…"
"And you are all hiding in the corners? Twenty-four healthy men are afraid of a fifteen years old girl?" Woods looked at the scientist angrily.
"Have you seen what she turned the laboratory into? She can now freeze and boil water, not speaking of being able to make it move and do whatever she wants…"
"Then I'm surprised you haven't left the laboratory already… oh, right, that would have been desertion," Woods huffed.
"I think we should undo the last experiment…" the scientist started.
"Undo? Turman, are you insane? This," Woods pointed with his finger towards the girl, "is beyond our expectations, so don't you dare change that, understood?"
"Yes, sir," Turman nodded after a second of hesitation.
"And let me tell you one thing… treating Aquamarine should be like treating a dog. That girl should know her borders."
With that the man swiftly stood up and took a step towards the center of the lab, where the girl was standing. She seemed absorbed in herself, looking at the water and obviously controlling its movements with her right hand.
"Aquamarine!" Woods called out loudly.
The girl looked at him and put her hand down.
Woods smirked. She does know her place.
"We will now leave this laboratory and you can do whatever you want until you learn how to control what you have now. But remember, if you ever try to hurt one of us or do something against NGA, doesn't matter, now or later, the consequences for you will be fatal."
The man wasn't threatening, he was just informing. But the girl was listening attentively.
"Understood?" Woods raised his eyebrow.
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Everyone, out!" the man said now loudly. "Watch this lab via cameras!"
"But sir, what if she crashes this place?"
"Let the girl have her fun."
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
June 2nd, 2002
"So you are practically setting me up? Making me babyseat some ugly freak to get you promoted?" a twenty-one years old guy with blonde hair was looking at Webster Woods with irritation.
"Max, I don't want you to babysit Aquamarine, I want you to train it." Woods replied.
"It? Wow, uncle, you sure are polite," Max huffed.
"I have just told you Aquamarine's story, and I think you should now there is no use to treat the girl like a human since she's not a human anymore."
"Okay, whatever, but come on, how will I train a girl that's sixteen, for God's sake? I mean, you just told me she can do all those freaky things with water, isn't that enough for you? And she has a fishtail, come on, who will need anything more that that?"
"Look, Max," Woods stood up from his chair and came up to his nephew. "Our engineers are now working on another submarine from 'Hydra' series, Hydra-7. If you agree to train Aquamarine, I'll put in a word for you to get you there."
The guy bit his lip.
"Hydra-7?" he asked.
"Yes," Woods nodded. "And if you are as good as I think you are, you will get promoted there quickly. But you need to agree to train Aquamarine."
"Alright," Max shrugged after hesitating for a minute. "I'll train that ugly 'project' freak of yours."
A small smirk touched Webster Woods' lips. "Ugly 'project' freak," he huffed.
"Should we go to the lab?" Max asked his uncle.
"No, Aquamarine should be here soon. It doesn't live in here anymore."
"Really? And where does it live?"
"We rented an apartment. Aquamarine should try to blend into the real life."
"Nice… you spend some money on it, for sure."
"Yeah, you don't even want to know how much exactly," Woods smirked.
Suddenly someone knocked on the door.
"Come in!"
Woods was eyeing his nephew's face attentively as Aquamarine came in. And a smile of satisfaction spread across the older man's face as he saw the expression of young Max Hudgens.
"Why didn't you tell me she is not ug…" the guy started but then shut up, looking at Aquamarine.
Woods huffed again.
"Aquamarine, this is Max, he will train you. Martial arts, technics… whatever any soldier is trained to do. Max, this is Aquamarine."
The girl's expression was blank. In fact that was the only expression Woods has seen of hers in years.
"Questions?" Woods looked at both Max and Aquamarine. But he knew there will be no questions from it.
Max shook his head.
"Okay then, dismissed."
"So…" Max started when they left the office of his uncle. "What is your name?"
"Aquamarine. Brigadier General just told you," the girl replied indifferently.
"And that's how everyone calls you? Always? What, no short names?"
"No."
"How about I give you one?" Max suggested eyeing the girl attentively.
Man, did they design her so hot or what?
"Give me a short name? Like what?" the girl looked at Max and he saw interest in her eyes.
"Well… Aquamarine…" he considered some names in his head. "How 'bout… Amara?"
"Amara?"
"Yeah. You like that?"
"Well, not bad."
O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O
August 16th, 2003
"Max, may i ask you something?"
"Sure."
Amara and Max were lying on the messed-up sheets on the bed in Amara's apartment. The girl was looking at the setting sun through a big window and Max was playing with a lock of her hair.
"You never asked me why I can do all that stuff with water… why?"
"After more than a year you started to feel curious?" the guy huffed.
"No… I was always expecting you to ask that," Amara turned back to look at him.
Max didn't respond. He was looking at how sun light was playing on the girl's soft bronze hair turning them bright red.
"Well, you must've understood uncle told me…" he said after a while.
"What exactly did he tell you?" Amara was looking at the guy anticipating .
"That they were making tests and experiments on you…" Max's expression showed that he wasn't enjoying the talk. "Look, let's just…"
"I want to tell you something," Amara interrupted him suddenly. "They started all those experiments on me because I was sick… genetic disease called…"
"Ichthyosis. I know," Max finished for her.
"You know? I mean, you knew?" the confusion on Amara's face was so obvious Max smiled.
"Yes, I knew all along. Why is that so surprising?"
"And you… do you know something about it? Ichthyosis?" the girl was eyeing him attentively. "Do you know what it is?"
"I checked on the Internet," Max replied simply.
"And since when?..."
"Uncle told me when he asked me to train you… about a year ago. The very same night I checked it."
"You mean you knew all along… and you still…" she didn't finish because Max sat up and bent down to her face.
"It doesn't matter."
"I bet you wasn't that sure when you saw pictures in the Internet," Amara was looking straight into his eyes. She has already coped with whatever emotion there was.
"I've read everything I could find about that disease. I know what it is and I could only imagine how you felt back then. But the past is gone, it won't come back. Just forget about it, okay?"
"It is easy for you to say… I can't just let go of all that…"
"All you have to know is that you are special. Because of what you had before you have powers now."
"I could live without them, you know."
"Don't you like your powers?"
"I do… but I always thought others will never take me for who I am. Or rather, what I am."
"You have me, remember?" Max smiled and brushed the girl's lips with his thumb.
The girl smiled too.
"You truly are a very special project, Aquamarine…" Max leaned closer to the girl and kissed her.
"Do you think your uncle knows about us?" Amara asked when they parted.
"Don't know… you think he will be against?"
"Maybe… we should better keep it in secret anyways…"
"Agreed. Specially since you are minor," Max smiled mischievously.
"Hey, I'm almost eighteen!" Amara frowned but her lips were smiling.
"'Almost' doesn't count," Max kept on.
"Oh, well then you should better go and we will never do this again…" the girl shrugged demonstratively.
"Hey, okay, okay, I take my words back," Max raised his hands in surrender and then leaned down to put them on the back of Amara's neck.
Okay, so you see Max is not a bad guy=)
So, what do you think? I was planning on making one more chapter, so if you'd like to read it, review=)