The Sergeant woke him when they landed in the harbor where a nuclear submarine was waiting for them. The Captain of the submarine was there to greet him.
"Commander Harrison. Good to meet you. I'm Captain Wilkins. If you need anything during your trip, I'll see to it personally," the Captain said. "Sergeant Thomas! Glad to have you aboard!"
"Thank you, Captain. It would only be thirty minutes to reach the base, so let's not waste any more of the Commander's time," Sergeant Thomas said quickly. The Captain nodded, his features masked by the traditional military hat and glasses. Several of the sailors on board had a meal already set up for the two men in the galley, and a couple of beds were set aside in case they needed more rest. Once they were settled on the submarine, the hatch closed, and the massive, sleek ship descended into the murky, warm waters off the coasts of New York.
True to the Sergeant's words, it was about thirty minutes on the mark when the submarine docked in a specialized underwater laboratory. Once the Commander and the Sergeant disembarked the submarine, it submerged to head back to shore to keep the secretiveness of the project in full. Commander Harrison doubted that the Captain or the crew knew anything about the project. They were simply ferry men and nothing more than that.
He headed towards the main part of the laboratory with Sergeant Thomas, and he was confronted by several men in hazmat suits. They nodded to them both and led them to the viewing deck. Behind several planes of thick glass was a tube-like tank filled with water in the center of the room. In the water was a beautiful woman. Far more gorgeous and perfect than any other woman he had ever seen in his life. He never noticed that Sergeant Thomas was led to another part of the underwater lab to do some paperwork. He was far too fixated on the inhuman beauty in the tube tank.
Her hair was long, white, and framed her body unlike anything he could recall. The white strands almost looked like tendrils. He noticed they were more than just tendrils. They reminded him of the tentacles of an octopus, since each one moved as though they had minds of their own. He couldn't tell what her eyes looked like, since they were closed, but her face held a singular form of perfection. Her nose was dainty to the point that it wasn't too large or too small. Her mouth held lips with a velvety soft, pink texture. Her cheeks accentuated her face with the same perfection as the rest of her.
Her skin was so pale that it was nearly translucent, and she had the most enticing set of breasts he'd ever gazed at. He would almost have said that they had to be fake, they looked that nice. Her legs were long, as well as her arms, and, as the tentacle-like hair moved her in a circular motion, he could tell she was well-muscled in all the right areas. She was purely a female, and I'll be damned if anyone else would say anything otherwise. He was so busy studying her perfect figure, he didn't realize that a rather heavy man moved to sit right next to him. A button was switched on casually and was unnoticed by the Commander. A faint light responded to the tank to show a connection was made.
"She has a fantastic ass, doesn't she?" the head scientist smirked, as he adjusted his glasses. "My name is Leopold Schwartz. What you are looking at is Project Hera."
"Three years? For this?" Commander Harrison frowned.
"Yes. It took a lot of trial and error after so long. This is our finished work. We took several cells that we had obtained from Project Zeus and found an antivirus to them. Literally, just by letting Project Hera near Project Zeus, the two will act like magnets and repel each other. But, Project Hera will actually set fire to the other if she gets close enough. Like a raging bonfire, or, say, a super-heated flame," Leopold said. "She has the capability to turn any viral infection into a combustion of fire. But, the effect would only last about a week. She would need to find other ways to fend for herself once that effect wore off. She would burn too much energy if it was permanent. This is what our testing showed with other samples."
"I see. Is there a possibility that Project Zeus can evolve to withstand it?" Commander Harrison asked. "Is there a possibility that they would...breed?"
"We have taken precautions," Leopold said. "There is a thermal nuclear bomb in the lower part of her brain, and it's attached to her heart. If her heart stops beating, it goes off. If the bomb is tampered with, it goes off. We even have her memories duplicated and sent into a special computer within the bomb, and it's monitored at midnight, every night, by a satellite. We can review her memories with it. If we spot something hostile, or that she wants to turn against us, we can set off the bomb remotely. As for breeding, that can't happen. It's true that, should she be successful in eliminating Project Zeus and comes back to us, we will want to breed her and dismantle her. Not only to remove the bomb, of course, but we will also want to create cures for the other viruses on the island. Vaccines would also be needed for the populace."
"I see. At least I can gain some comfort in that fact. But, why can't she breed?"
"She needs to have a healthy strain of untainted female hormones injected into her. Right now, we may as well call her an it. But, that's unlikely due to her figure," Leopold smirked.
"And how would you breed her?" the Commander had to ask.
"Like any other woman. We fuck her," Leopold grinned. "Only a human male can create a viable, breeding male or female from her. Anything else, well...could be called a robotic drone, from what we know. Like any good sci-fi film, she's the Queen as many would call it. But otherwise, yeah. We'd have to fuck her. The moment she gets back from killing Project Zeus, I'll have a list of men ready for her."
"Right. Good luck with that," Commander Harrison said grimly. "So, when does she wake up? Any estimate on that yet?"
"She's already awake. She's also been listening to us talk. She needed to know what would happen if she fucks up," Leopold said bluntly. Commander Harrison blinked, looked at the now glowing communications button and then looked at the beautiful creature in the stasis tube. What a horrible waste of life! But, she wasn't exactly human, so why should I care?
"So, what can she do now?" the Commander asked.
"We uploaded everything she needs to know into her brain already. We're finishing up tactical points on weapons, military artillery, vehicles, and even a few flight programs. She'll be a top ranking soldier by the time she's released from the tube. Just below Commander specialization, you see. She does have the ability to cloak her skin like a camouflage effect. Even her hair has some form of ability, too, as you can see. As long as our sensors have her DNA in our database, we'll track her easily. She won't be able to hide from us."
"Right. She'll do a test run here?"
"Yes. We'll make sure she's fully operational the moment she is able to walk. Ah! They're draining the tank now!" Leopold said with a grin. Commander Harrison watched the tank water drain fully, and the glass rose up to reveal her. She coughed out some water to breathe in the air, and she shivered from the sudden cold air that assaulted her. She blinked open her eyes, and the Commander could only pause with wonder once again. Clear blue eyes, almost pastel in color, now looked around her steel prison, as her hair coiled around her as though to shield her nakedness. Then she looked up and saw the Commander through the glass wall. She smirked and looked away. She already knew her life was forfeit, and he could tell. He didn't know whether to pity her or to simply not give a shit.
"Agatha!" Leopold said. He spoke through the microphone that led to the chamber, as the men in the hazmat suits assisted her in drying off. When she was thoroughly dried, they disconnected her from the machines that uploaded the content she needed to survive. She was in a crouching position the whole time the drying was done, and it was as though she was trying to keep the men from touching her too much.
"Agatha?" she asked in a tone that seemed almost ethereal. "Aren't I...Project Hera?"
"You are, but I named you Agatha a long time ago," Leopold chuckled. "Clothes will be sent down to you, and you will test your knowledge in a trial run. Do you understand?"
"Yes. I am ready," she nodded, as she stood up. She wanted to escape, but she could feel the bomb in her head pulsing in sync with her heart. I'm a prisoner and soon to be a breeding machine. If I made it back here alive. The clothes she was given included a white, camouflage suit that was built explicitly for her. Not only did it enhance her womanly assets, but it was form fitting and easy to move around in.
Being a two-piece garment didn't really help, but she did have natural armor. Her skin was hardening a bit, now that she was out of the water, to make it less transparent and more of a pale, silvery white in color. Her hair was now becoming a darker form of white, almost resembling ivory, and the tendrils settled down to be nearly floor length, as they seemed to mold to her form and ended at her ankles. After another few seconds, the tendrils resembled actual hair, and the scientists were amazed at it.
She was escorted into a training area where she excelled at weapons handling, vehicle driving, and a flight simulation. Commander Harrison watched everything curiously. Normally, he'd be furious as hell about the whole thing, but there was something about her that intrigued him. And it wasn't the good kind of intrigue. His gut told him that she was going to turn on them. She heard everything the scientist said, and I wouldn't blame her if she did turn on us. Just knowing that she was going to be a toy to every man on the station, and then cut up and sold to the highest bidder once her body was used up if she came back alive, would easily be enough to make even him want to kill everyone! I don't want her to come back to that. But, why would I care? He was trying to figure it out.
"Very good, Agatha!" Leopold praised, as he finally walked over to see her face to face.
"Thank you, Sir," Agatha nodded.
"You can call me Leopold," he winked. She nodded, but cringed inwards. He was a fat, bald man in a white lab coat and had bad teeth. His thin, brown hair looked greasy, and he seemed to pant as he talked. It was as though he was constantly struggling to breathe. If he took better care of himself hygienically, she wouldn't have minded him. However, as a female, she had her standards, too. "And this is Commander Harrison. He was watching your performance, and it was he that I was talking to as you were being extracted from the tube."
"Hello, Sir," she nodded. Now this was a human specimen that I wouldn't mind being with! Handsome, strong, and tall. Smart, too, from the look of it. He would give me decent offspring. But, that wasn't my choice to make. It was a touch disappointing to her.
"Hello," he said back. "I don't approve of your existence."
"I don't approve of yours, either," she said back without missing a beat.
"Touché," he seemed to smile lightly. "You know your mission. As much as I would prefer to have this done another way, you seem to be our only hope."
"Glad to have your approval of something," she nodded. "I'll leave now."
"Remember!" Leopold warned. "If you die, the bomb in your head blows up!"
"Then maybe I should kill myself now and keep you all from waiting," she grumbled.
"You wouldn't dare!" the scientist paled.
"Then get the fuck out of my way, and let me do my job!" she snarled. The Commander found himself grinning. If she was human, he'd be compatible with her.
"Agatha! Remember who made you!" Leopold hissed. "You have one month! I stress to you one month! If you don't come back here by then, I'll be forced to cleanse the island with that bomb in your head! And the timer started the moment you walked out of that tube!"
"Ah. Now I have a time limit. Fine. Stop wasting my time, and let me get to the surface now, then," she muttered. Then she added with sarcasm, "Sir."
"Only a month?" Commander Harrison frowned.
"It took a little under a month for that whole island to go down. We judged that it would be the same time to purify it," Leopold shrugged and regarded Agatha while they walked. "There is a cryo tube this way, and it will be jettisoned out to the island. It will also be your transport back. Don't worry about fuel, it's rigged to use steam from the ocean water, itself, and it is solar powered for energy storage. No need for batteries. You don't need to be in it for the satellite to upload your memories, since you have that built in with the bomb. You may feel a little queasy as the satellite homes in, but you'll still be alive once it's done."
"You said that her memories are duplicated and stored in a separate database for the satellite. Can they be altered? Can it pick up her personal thoughts?" Commander Harrison asked. She said nothing, but listened as they walked. He was asking crucial questions that she wanted to know the answers to.
"It...may be possible. Personal thoughts? No. It will only store what she can hear and see. But, only with my codes and with the proper software from my laboratory computers can those memories be altered. She would need to be hooked up to them, and it would be a bit like Photoshop after that. Easy to work with and such."
"Can the programs be copied?" Commander Harrison asked.
"Maybe..." Leopold frowned, as he thought. "Why are you asking me these things?"
"It's a need to know basis so I know who I need to kill if something fucks up," he muttered, as he glanced at Agatha. She appeared to not be paying attention, but he knew she was. If she was truly trained as top military personnel, then I know she's carefully storing every bit of information that she could get. When they got to the cryo tube, she moved to go inside it and the Commander stopped her.
"Yes, Sir?" she asked.
"I don't trust you," he said. "I'm not sure what to make of you. But, if you fuck up this mission, I'll have you destroyed!"
"I understand. Maybe, if I get back, I'll let you fuck me first," she said with a small gleam in her eye, and his jaw dropped. She liked me and told me in so many words. He wasn't expecting that. Leopold seemed to stutter at this and literally shoved her into the cryo tube for it to lock her in place and freeze her solid within it. What he didn't see was a tendril of her hair getting smashed in the door from his hasty move. When the door shut, a split second before she was frozen, her body instinctively severed the wounded tendril. That small mistake the scientist made could now destroy everything they hoped to achieve.
"I wasn't done talking to her," Commander Harrison frowned.
"She has a mission to do! When she gets back, you can talk to her after I have found out all I needed to know about her," Leopold said, as he entered in the coordinates from where the cryo tube would land. "Now, I need a blood sample from you. This is for our computers so they will know who you are if you need to come here again."
"Hmm..." the Commander frowned. He knew the scientist wasn't just going to talk to her if she got back. Why did that piss me off? He watched as the cryo tube was moved to a specialized launch pad, and the area sealed off as it flooded with water. Once the small craft was launched, he knew that all of their hopes went with it.