Summary: It's often said that no one knows you as well as you know yourself, but what if that wasn't true anymore? Genetic Manipulation…
Chapter 1
I was woken up by the sharp throbbing in both of my wrist and ankles, making me crack my eyes open against the unpleasantly strong florescent light. I tilted my head back to see my hands being restrained. Thick, white, plastic cording pulled my arms completely straight, stretching in the opposite direction of my ankles, being tugged by the same uncomfortable bindings. I could barely move I was restrained so tightly, pushed completely flat against the stainless steel table. A tight fabric band stretched across my waist and tied to metal poles that protruded parallel to the table.
What the hell?
I tried moving as much as I was capable only to stop a moment later, wincing. Looking back up at my left wrist I saw blood welling up around the plastic cording and dripping the short distance to the table, noticing now what I hadn't before in my groggy state. The cords around both of my wrist were already stained with dried blood, wrapped around so tightly they were literally imbedded about a quarter of an inch into my skin. I wouldn't be surprised if the cord was scrapping bone. I tried to think back to fighting with my bindings in the first place, but nothing came up. In fact, I couldn't remember how I got into this situation at all.
Panic gripped me. Where the hell am I? I began fearfully pulling against the restraints again, this time ignoring the stabs of pain.
My ties remained firm and I wasn't able to move an inch. I could feel my raw wrists and ankles throbbing in time with my heart beat. Breathing hard I stopped struggling and looked around the room as much as I could from my odd position. The commodious white room was completely colorless except for the stainless steel tables and medical looking equipment.
But the most disturbing part was there were five other tables besides mine, all with someone on them restrained in the same manner as I. As far as I could tell, I was the only one conscious. There was a table on either side of mine and then one table at the foot of each of ours, making six of us all together. Including me, there were three girls and three guys.
Just as I was about to yell in effort to wake them up, I paused at the sound of a door opening. Looking to the right and lifting my head to look over the blond guy on the table next to mine, I saw a door open, seeming to appear out of nowhere. The only reason I knew a door was there at all was because of its movement and the two men stepping through it, other than that, the white door blended in seamlessly with the white wall.
Both men were dressed as typical scientist you would see on T.V., black slacks and white lab coats. The shortest of them had nerd glasses and the other was caring a clip board to top off the stereotypical look. They looked a lot alike, but maybe I just thought that because of their matching attire and similar short cut, brownish-greying hair. If I had to guess, I'd say both of them were around their late forties or early fifties.
They were muttering to each other as they slowly made their way over to us. I didn't know either of these men from eve, but as they got closer a feeling of dread overwhelmed me and I could help but shudder. As if sensing my trepidation the taller clipboard holder looked up, meeting my eyes and smiling like it was a pleasant surprise to see me.
"Ah Isabella," he said warmly, causing his shorter counterpart to look up at me with caution, unlike his smiling buddy. "I'm glad to see you're awake, the first one too I see." He said looking around.
Isabella? That's my name? Much to my confusion and fear the name wasn't ringing any bells and the harder I thought about it, it would seem I didn't have any bells to ring at all anyway. I couldn't remember anything, absolutely nothing.
"Of course she's the first awake, she always-" the shorter one began, seemingly annoyed, and then broke off. "Why is she breathing so hard?"
It was only then I realized he was right. I felt like I couldn't get enough air. Who was I? Is this how my life normally was? Although I couldn't remember jack-squat, I was positive this wasn't a normal way to live, waking up restrained and bloody. I continued to breathe heavily and began pulling on my restraints, desperate to move, to run, to simply remember my name. The edges of my vision began to go dark.
"What's wrong?!" the shorter one started up again, borderline yelling. "I thought you said when it was done there wouldn't be any problems?! She could be unstable and potentially dangerous!"
Dangerous how? I could barely move.
"Carl, calm down." The taller one snapped sternly, taking charge. He walked over to me, brushing the hair out of my face, causing me to flinch. "Calm down Isabella." He grabbed my face to keep me still and force me to meet his uncannily composed gaze. "You're hyperventilating. Just take deep breaths and relax." He said in a soothing voice that gave me the chills none the less.
Despite the deep rooted feeling I shouldn't trust this stranger, I listened to him, attempting to deepen and slow my frantic breathing. It'd be best to stay conscious to deal with these people and situation that I felt to be possibly threatening.
"Good, good." He said, stroking my hair. "You're almost done, you're all right."
"Thank goodness." Carl sighed loudly in relief. "I thought she was going to go hulk for a moment there."
"That isn't her gift."
"I know, but I'm still wary of the side effects the procedure may have caused."
Gift? Procedure? Side effects? My stomach tightened, I didn't know what they were talking about but apparently my body remembered, I was coiled tight as a spring.
The tall scientist, whose name I still didn't know, handed the clipboard he was holding to Carl, "Here."
Carl took it without question, taking a pen from his coat pocket and stared at me interestedly.
Taking a small flashlight from the pocket of his slacks, tall scientist used his free hand to hold my head to face him. "Okay Isabella, open your eyes wide please, try not to blink." He clicked the flash light on.
Ignoring his politely worded demand I squinted against the light and tried to keep watching both him and Carl. "Who are you?" I asked, my voice cracking, either from lack of use, fear, or a combination of both.
Carl sighed loudly, "Please cooperate Ms. Swan." He said irritably, as if we'd done this a million times and I was always uncooperative. Maybe we had, maybe I was, I couldn't remember.
"I might, if you tell me who you are." I snapped, matching Carl's irritable attitude.
"Honestly Isabella," tall scientist said, pulling my left eye lid back with his thumb and shinning his annoying flash light, blinding me. "Must you really make this harder for all of us? You'd figure after two months you'd calm down and accept we're not trying to hurt you."
Two months?
I turned my head to the side and closed my now dry eyes, "Stop it." I turned back to look at them. "I'm serious. Who are you? Where are we? Two months?"
I had to restrain myself from asking more questions, I had so many spinning dizzily around my head, but I knew spewing them all out at once wouldn't get most of them answered.
"Ms. Swan-" Carl began sternly but tall doctor raised a hand quickly and cut him off.
"Wait."
"Scott?" Carl looked at; who I now knew to be Scott, in confusion.
Scott looked back to me, ignoring his partners questioning gaze. "You really can't remember?"
"What don't I remember?" I asked, feeling vulnerable.
"What do you remember?" he asked almost excitedly.
I paused, I felt so defenseless, tied up without even my own memories to help me. "Nothing…"
"That's not good. Ms. Swan are you absolutely serious?" Carl broke in, looking anxious.
"It could be good." Scott broke in, causing both Carl and I to look at him in confusion.
Scott leaned down to say something in Carl's ear, so low that I couldn't hear.
"Isabella," Scott took my hand, I was annoyed I couldn't take it back, tied up as I was. "You've always been with us…" he said slowly, looking down at me with concern. Something in the pit of my stomach told me his concern was false.
Suddenly a deep and strangely familiar voice to my right and behind Scott caught all of our attention.
"What the hell are you talking about? No she hasn't."
The guy who spoke had dirty blond semi-long loosely curled hair, greasy and sticking to his forehead, but there was no doubt he was handsome. Even strapped to a table same as I was you, could tell he was tall, probably around six foot-something, lean but muscular. He was glaring at the Scott and Carl with complete hate, but when he turned his strikingly blue eyes to me they were filled with nothing but love and concern.
"Quiet Jasper!" Scott snapped angrily.
Jasper shot Scott a defiant glare before once again meeting my eyes with worry, "Bella? Are you all right?"
At his softly spoke question, it was as if a dam in my head broke loose and images of the two of us growing up together flashed rapidly through my mind. Jasper was my older brother. I still couldn't remember the name of the street we grew up on, what kind of dog we had, or clearly see the faces of the bleary figures in my head that I assumed to be our parents, but I was absolutely a hundred percent sure that Jasper was my brother. We were as thick as thieves; he would do anything for me and I for him. He was now also the only solid memory of my past that I had.
"Jasper?" I asked, my voice breaking. "Jasper what's going on?"
I barely noticed the tear slipping from the corner of my eye and falling into my dark greasy hair.
His eyes widened in surprise. "You don't remember?"
I shook my head sadly, "I only remember you." my voice thick with effort from holding back what would be complete sobbing.
His expression turned livid then and he turned his glare to Scott and Carl, "What did you do to her?!" he growled, pulling vigorously against his restraints. His wrist turning an angry red but not bleeding as mine had.
"Oh calm down." Scott said, waving a hand dismissively. "It's just a side effect of the procedure you all went through. It's probably not even permanent."
"What procedure?" I asked and the same time Jasper shouted,
"Probably not permanent?!" He bellowed incredulously, "You better be pretty damn sure! These are our lives that you feel you have the right to play with, you sick fuck!"
I had never seen Jasper so mad before, or at least not that I could remember.
Scott sighed with impatience, as if Jasper was a small child throwing a temper-tantrum.
"You should be more grateful considering what we've given you."
"I can hardly be grateful for something you refuse to explain. All I know is that you've kidnapped us and have been poking and prodding us with who the hell knows what for past two months!"
Jasper's chest was heaving with angry breath as I thought over what he had said. Kidnapped? I can't believe I don't remember being kidnapped. Then again, I couldn't believe I had forgotten what my parents look like or their names for that matter. I could only guess one thing from their conversation.
"Have you been experimenting on us?" Almost immediately, I wanted to disregard the question as soon as I said it. That was insane, a thing of movies.
Scott looked to me with a pinched expression, "You all have no idea what we are giving-"
He was cut off by a tinkling girlish voice coming from the table at the foot of my brother's, "Dr. Deanrich?"
Scott spun around, seems he was a legit doctor at least. Oh yeah, great, demented
with a degree.
"Alice! I should have known you'd be the next to wake." He spoke as if strained, in a falsely happy tone, his eyes flashing back to me as he spoke.
A groan came from the table at the foot of mine and with that it seemed as if all the others were awake.
"Ugh, I've got one hell of a headache." The massive guy on the table to my left grumbled in a deep baritone voice.
"Emmett?" the pretty blond chick at the foot of his table asked worriedly.
The huge guy, 'Emmett', answered immediately, "Right here, baby."
A velvet yet masculine voice made me look back at the handsome copper haired guy on the table at the foot of mine again.
"What did you do now Deanrich?" his voice filled with bitter hate and distrust. "My legs feel like they're on fire."
Carl spoke up, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and then pointed to Scott, or Dr. Deanrich, "I told you there would be side effects, I told you Scott. For our sake, you better hope these kids aren't hazardous."
Everyone kept firing questions and accusations left and right, all talking at once. I looked to Jasper in utter confusion but he just shrugged the best he could from his position, looking as lost as I was. Seems he only knew the doctors and no one else in the room.
Dr. Deanrich spun in a slow circle, looking at everyone in the room, all still in an uproar.
He sighed, "Can't we ever have a peaceful morning?"
Eventually Dr. Deanrich had gotten so fed-up he yelled loudly and threatened to put us all under again. I couldn't exactly remember what he meant by his threat but I could imagine and the others could remember, the room had quieted down quickly.
Dr. Deanrich went to unbind Jasper first, while Carl headed to the small girl at the foot of Jaspers table. They used heavy duty industrial looking scissors to cut through the cord. After a minute, when my brother was free, Dr. Deanrich made his way over to me as Jasper sat up, rubbing his raw wrists and taking a quick look at the others in the room before turning his inquiry back to me. His eyes once again filled with worry and his face clouded over with anger.
"Why the hell is she tied so tightly?!" he asked furiously.
Shouldn't the question be: why are any of us tied and strapped to a table at all?
Looking around from my restrained position I could see he had a point. I was the only one of the group to be tied to the point of having the cord actually entrenched into flesh.
"Calm down Jasper!" Carl squeaked, sounding afraid.
Dr. Deanrich, however, replied as calm as ever. "A necessary precaution with this one I'm afraid."
He looked over to see Jasper about to get up. Sighing loudly he turned from me and started swiftly towards the small cart on the other side of Jaspers bench, all the while berating my brother sternly.
"Really?! Jasper, sit down. You are in no condition to be moving so quickly." He picked up a thick metal band from the table before facing Jasper. "You've all been sedated for nearly a week."
"A week?! No wonder I feel like shit." The big guy bellowed from my left.
Seems Dr. Deanrich was right, Jasper was leaning his head into one of his hands, using the other to keep from toppling over in his obvious wave of dizziness.
"Jasper?" I asked worried.
He shook his head slowly before replying. "I'm fine, just lightheaded."
Knelling, Dr. Deanrich clasped the metal band around Japer's ankle; it made a series of metallic clicks before falling silent. I assumed that was the sound of it locking in place.
Standing up the doctor attempted to help Jasper sit on his table once again, but Jasper roughly shook him off and helped his self.
Carl once again spoke up, sounding marginally more composed now that Jasper was calmer. "Perhaps we should give the others their cuffs before untying them."
Dr. Deanrich nodded and they proceeded to give us the same thick metal anklets as the one Jasper was now wearing.
Once that was done the doctor headed back to me and Carl went back to releasing the small sprite looking girl, one arm and a leg already free. Deanrich was holding a jagged toothed knife of sorts, I couldn't help but shudder.
"Now, emancipating you will be a little more difficult, with how tightly you're bound. For your sake Isabella, I'm going to need you to hold as still as possible."
My stomach dropped.
Carl had, by now, released the sprite and the handsome copper headed boy and was working on the pretty blond. The small girl was cracking her neck and the boy was messaging his sore thighs.
The sawing sound above my head quickly brought my attention back to the doctor; he was cutting through my bindings. Which I wouldn't normally have a problem with, but I knew he was eventually going to meet flesh where the cord sunk deeper into my wrist.
"Wait!" I yelled surprised, causing Jasper's head to snap in my direction.
Jasper hopped off his table, his fury evident. "What do you-"
I cut him off with a surprised, sharp squeal at the first feel of cold metal teeth scratching the soft skin of my wrist. Instinct lead to me trying to wiggle away from him, but of course I couldn't. My struggles only resulted in jolting the doctor and sending his knife deeper and to the side, causing me to cry out. Uncontrollable knee-jerk tears blinded me.
Jasper roughly clamped his hand on Deanrich's shoulder, ready to pull him away.
"Scott!" Carl yelled out his warning a little too late.
Knife clattering to the floor, Deanrich skidded across the tiles a good twenty feet away, going a lot farther than I would have expected from Jasper's push. Don't get me wrong, Jasper has always been a strong guy, but it seemed exaggerated almost, like in movies.
Still angry Jasper was marching toward the fallen doctor who was scrambling to pull something from his pocket. Just as Jasper reached him the doctor succeeded in pulling out what looked to be a garage opener, holding it like it was supposed to deter Jasper from pursuing him. When the doctor pushed a button on the small contraption, I knew why.
An electric buzzing filled the room and Jasper fell to the floor convulsing.
"Jasper!" I cried, struggling once again, my wrist oddly hot and burning, slick with blood.
The copper headed boy stood frozen where he was standing, previously looking ready to help Jasper if needed. The pixie and partially released blond sat wide eyed in shock, the big guy was straining his head backwards to see what was going on.
Dr. Deanrich, released the button and stood slowly, serenely adjusting his lab coat and looking at my brother with indignation. Jasper was on the floor panting heavily in pain and surprise. The cuff around my brother's ankle suddenly became frightening rather than just demeaning.
"Now," the doctor started. "Do you want your sister released or not?"
He walked around Jasper, leaving a wide range of space between them. Grabbing the knife from where it fell and wiping it off, he picked up where he left off with me, holding my arm still. He was cutting into my skin and I was doing my best to keep quiet, I knew this was not only painful for me but Jasper as well; in a different way. Irrepressible reflex tears partially blinded me, small whimpers escaping. I could still see Jasper shaking on all fours attempting to get up and defend me again.
"Don't even think about it Jasper." I gritted through clenched teeth.
"She's right you know." The doctor agreed sounding smug.
Bastard, making it sound as though we're on the same side.
"There's no reason to prolong this and cause you both more pain. If we want Isabella to be able to be up and walking this is necessary."
Jasper remained sitting and met my gaze, hatred for these men and compassion for me swirling in the depths of his clear eyes.
Finally with a muffled snap the cord was cut and the doctor tugged it gently, painfully from my wrist. More skin ripping, as if body had been trying to heal around the cord. Blood pooled onto the table. As soon as my arm was completely free I brought my wet hand to my chest and turned away from the doctor as much as I could.
Dr. Deanrich was walking around to the other side of my table, while Jasper came up and rubbed shoulder lightly.
"Bella?"
"Yeah?" I grunted weakly, my wrist burning blindingly hot, a fire from within.
We were silent for a couple minutes. I could tell Jasper was thinking of what to say, to ask someone if they were okay would be the first reaction, but when you know they're clearly not; it seemed odd and wrong.
"I'm sorry." He finally settled on.
I turned toward him; blood staining the front of the white tang-top I was wearing, my wrist tingling, the fire slowly leaving.
"Isabella." Deanrich called, stopping me from telling Jasper this was hardly his fault.
My head snapped in the doctor's direction, defensive and glaring.
"Let me see your wrist." He held his hand out expectantly and I stared at it numbly, uncomfortable with allowing this man to touch me again.
He sighed loudly and grabbed my arm, pulling it from its protective curl into my chest.
"Hey!" Jasper jumped in immediately as I attempted to pull back.
Deanrich paused, still firmly holding my forearm and shot him a fierce glare, one that clearly stated they would have a repeat of earlier if Jasper kept interfering.
"Jasper, don't." I said softly, relaxing my arm.
Jasper's gaze wavered between the doctor and me, his expression torn.
A hearty laugh came from Scott; I looked to see him staring at my wrist, belatedly realizing it no longer hurt.
"Carl," Scott said excitedly, "bring me a rag."
Carl of course did as he was told and joined the doctor in looking at my wrist; as Scott gently cleaned it off.
"We did it Carl." Deanrich said, smiling so widely I wouldn't be surprised if it hurt. "It's working!"
With the blood cleared away you could clearly see a circle of new silvery pink skin ringing my wrist. Expecting a deep gash, I stared in awe at the fresh flesh.
"Whether she'll have a scar or not, I'm not sure, but she's completely healed."
"Oh my…" Carl trailed off, "We actually did it."
"I told you." Deanrich said smugly, "The other's gifts are sure to fall in place as well."
A/N: Good? Bad? What do you think?
Thanks for reading Hope you enjoyed!