(Author's note: Okay, it's Kyrie's turn! What kinds of memories haunt her? Let's find out, shall we?)
Different Hearts, Same Dream
Part Five
A DragonBall Z fanfic by Hana Noir
It was always dark here. She didn't mind the dark, but the cramped quarters made her claustrophobic. After the first few minutes, it felt like the walls were squeezing her tighter and tighter. There wasn't much air and she couldn't help but to breath in shallow gasps. The sweat poured down her back and dripped in her eyes.
"Please… let me out," she whispered. There was no answer. There never was. Once you were in the Box, you ceased to exist until the Doctor decided it was time for you to come out. Screaming did no good either. All that accomplished was a sore throat and ringing ears. She could still hear the guards laughing as they dragged her down the hallway to the cubicle known as the Box.
"How long d'you think he'll leave her in this time?" the first had asked, smirking.
The second laughed. "I dunno. That little stunt she pulled ought to get her three days at least." Numb, she hadn't even bothered to fight when they forced her to kneel inside the three foot high prison. What she had learned earlier had taken all the fight out of her.
Experiment… I'm just an experiment… Not even a real person at all…
Her frequent inquires about her background had caused the Doctor to tell her that she had been orphaned at an early age and left in his care. At first that explanation had pacified her, but as she had grown older, her need for details had been brushed aside. Determined to find the answers that she was being denied, she had stayed up after lights out and snuck out of her room. It was child's play for her to access the Facility's database from the computer in the empty office at the end of the hall.
File after file had yielded little information until she found the one labeled "Project 42659: Eve". Eagerly she had opened it, hoping to find some clue as to her identity. The complex genetic information had taken her a while to decipher and she became increasingly upset as she scrolled through what appeared to be notes from the various doctors and researchers.
"Subject is highly intelligent," wrote one. "Standard IQ tests are too basic to begin to gauge intellect. Recommend that information access be severely limited in this case."
"Project 42659 is our most promising specimen to date," this was from Dr. Morgan, the kindly man who always told her jokes and patted her on the head. It hurt to see the stark truth of his involvement in her development. "I have been encouraged to develop a closer relationship with 42659 in the hopes that she will come to see me as a 'father figure'. This has been relatively easy as the child is trusting and starved for attention. Keeping her isolated has worked well in controlling her."
"The metabolic enhancements made to the subject seem to have the added effect of increasing her dietary efficiency. She can survive on almost any food, no matter how poor the quality. There seems to be an increased dependence on proteins, however, which manifests in a craving for red meat."
She scrolled down through the entries, stopping when she noticed some dated for this year. "Project 42659 started out promisingly enough, but there have been problems in the last year. The subject is actually too intelligent for our purposes. Another use may have to be found for this specimen." Another file was cross-referenced, which caught her attention. Project 43718: Adam.
There was a detailed physiological workup next, with a graph showing how the "subject" differentiated from the norm for her age, build and gender. Eve pondered over this for several seconds, finger tracing the red line that spiked sharply above the blue baseline.
Then, she had found the pictures of the "defective specimens". Tears of horror filled her eyes at the sight of the twisted bodies and descriptions of the fractured minds. Quite a few had the word TERMINATED in red at the top of the file. Then she saw that number again. 43718. She clicked the file and it opened. At the top was a picture of a boy, at least a year younger than her, with blonde hair. Before she could began to read the information, the screen began to blink and an alarm went off.
Startled, she turned to run for the door, only to find the Doctor waiting there for her, flanked by two guards. He shook his head sadly. "You just had to be curious, didn't you, Eve?"
"Why did you lie to me?" she shouted, hands fisted at her sides. "You said I had a family!"
He looked at her coldly. "Lie? About what? Your parents? I told you exactly what you wanted to hear. Did you want the truth?" She flinched at the anger in his voice.
"I want it now," she said defiantly. "Who am I?
The Doctor laughed. "You're a freak of science, 'Eve'. The first in a line of genetically manufactured soldiers. You were born in a laboratory for the sole purpose of study. You're nothing more than a specimen for our use. The outside world has no idea that you even exist." His grey eyes narrowed dangerously. "And you would do well to remember that, girl." She blanched as the meaning of his words sank in. "I think this little escapade has earned you some time in the Box." He motioned to the guards. "Take her."
She didn't even bother to even struggle as they grabbed her. What was the use?
*************
With a strangled gasp, Kyrie jerked out of her troubled sleep. A shaking hand wiped the sweat from her face as she breathed harshly, the sound echoing in the dark, empty room. She stood quickly, trembling. For a moment, in her dreams, she had been back in the Box. Driven by some compulsion she couldn't fathom and didn't bother to question she turned on every light in the house and headed for the bathroom.
She turned the water in the shower on as hot and as hard as she could bear and stepped into the stinging spray. Grabbing a bar of soap, she began to scrub at her skin until it was almost raw. "I'm not an experiment," she whispered fiercely. "I'm a person. I have just as much right to exist as anyone else."
A sudden cold chill ran down her spine despite the almost scalding water pounding down on her back. Run, run! a little voice was hissing. You have to get out now! Too used to obeying her instincts, she jumped out of the shower, grabbing up a towel and hurriedly drying off. In the bedroom, she grabbed the first set of clothes at hand and dressed, totally unnerved. She had enough presence of mind to grab the case that held her supply of capsules as she bolted out the door of the house. Barefoot, she ran for the dubious safety of the forest.
Incoherent terror snapped Piccolo out of his meditative trance. He instinctively assumed a defensive posture as his eyes snapped open. There ws nothing in sight. "What the hell?!" Then a great BOOM ripped through the tranquil night. An invisible fist squeezed his heart when he realized where the explosion had come from. "Kyrie…"
From her position in the thick branches of a nearby tree, Kyrie watched as her little capsule house went up in flames. How could I have forgotten? she wondered frantically as the house burned. Why didn't I remember sooner??
A singsong voice rang out over the crackling of the flames engulfing the house. "Evie, oh Evie, come out, come out, wherever you are. I gave you plenty of time to get out before I blew up your little house." A young man stepped out of the trees on the other side of the clearing, a rocket launcher still on his shoulder.
He lazily surveyed the trees edging the clearing, a small, cruel grin pulling at his lips. "Eve, you had to know that sooner or later they'd send me to find you. Why don't you just come on out and save me the trouble of hunting you down. The more difficult you make this, the more… creative your punishment will be when I find you."
"Oh, shit…" she whispered, recognizing him even though she had only seen him once before. "Adam…"
************
"Eve."
Her head snapped up when the Doctor entered the small classroom. She sat aside the computer printouts that she had been studying and stood to face him. "Sir?"
He smiled thinly. "I see you're working hard as always. There's something I've been meaning to show you. Follow me." He turned and walked out, confident that she would follow.
Curious, she complied, keeping her face blank. Ever since she had found the computer records detailing the activities at the Facility, her hatred of the Doctor had grown. He was the focus for all of her anger, the person she held responsible for everything done to her. Only the fact that she had nowhere to go kept her from attempting to leave. But recently, she had been setting plans in motion that would get her out of here. It was only a matter of time.
She had them all fooled. It had been about a year ago that he had caught her accessing the databanks and he had locked her in the Box for a week. They all thought that the experience had broken her, but it had only hardened her. The meek, obedient persona that she had adopted after her release, sobbing and trembling, from that three foot corner of Hell had served her well. She almost smiled, but managed to catch herself.
She noticed that the corridors they were in were unfamiliar and she began to grow uneasy. Where were they going? She didn't recognize this part of the building. She hurried to catch up to the Doctor and entered the small elevator with him. The sinking feeling in her stomach grew stronger as they headed downward. When the car stopped, they stepped out into what seemed to be a control room. Several lab coated technicians nodded at the Doctor as he walked through, but most never took their eyes from the large window at the other end of the room. It was to this window they went.
It looked down into an arena of sorts. A young man with blonde hair was fighting with three opponents, all of whom were larger and taller than the he. Over the speakers came the sound of combat, the dull smack of flesh striking flesh, grunts, and the occasional crack of a broken bone.
"Doctor!" One of the techs waved a sheaf of paper excitedly. "His reaction time is ten times faster than that of his opponents! Not only that, his physical strength is greater than theirs as well!"
The Doctor nodded. "Eve," he motioned her closer. "I want you to watch this." She edged closer to the window, looking down. It was a sickening sight. One man was down, a gaping hole in his chest. Blood pooled beneath him. The second man hung back, his left arm dangling at an angle the human anatomy had never meant it to. The third was charging the teen, shouting something incomprehensible. A feral grin blossomed onto the boy's face as he deftly sidestepped and whirled to place a foot in his opponenent's back. The sound of his back breaking made bile rise in her throat. Swallowing quickly, she averted her eyes as he took down the last man.
The Doctor grabbed her arm and led her to a side door that opened onto a short staircase. He gave her a shove and she was unable to catch herself as she tumbled down the stairs. The landing was hard enough to knock the air from her lungs. Gasping, she opened her eyes to find herself face to face with a bloody corpse. The scream was out before she could stop it. Scurrying to her hands and knees, she scrambled as far from it as she could get. A mocking laugh brought her up short. The boy was standing over her, grey eyes cold and flat.
"Adam, meet Eve," the Doctor's voice came over the speakers, his tone amused. "I told you I would bring you a special surprise, did I not?"
"You did," Adam said, still staring down at the frozen girl. "And she's mine?" He was interruped by a moan from the man with the broken back. "Oops. I missed one." He grabbed her by the arm, smearing her with blood, and pulled her to her feet. "C'mon," he said with a grin. "You'll like this." He led her over to the prone body and knelt down, placing a hand on either side of the man's face. A twist and a quick jerk and it was over. Eve shivered uncontrollably.
"It seems that Adam is a much better model than you turned out to be, Eve," the Doctor said. "He's stronger, faster, and most importantly, more obedient than you. But don't be alarmed. We still have a use for you. The two of you will be the foundation of our next generation of subjects."
"You're kinda pretty," Adam remarked, his voice as emotionless as his face. He reached down and caught her chin in his bloodstained hand. The scent, together with the sights and sounds, became too much. Eve fainted.
***************
No! Nononononononononono! was all that she could think. She couldn't move at all. Terror had her rooted in place and she could only watch as he called out to her. "Eve, you really don't want me to get angry, do you?"
A freezing tension suddenly relaxed in her chest and she shook her head. 'Eve' no longer existed. She had been left behind in the past. "I'll show you, you jerk," she fumed, clambering down out of the tree. She was becoming angry and she grasped the anger as a means to keep the fear from controlling her.
His surprise was evident when she stepped out into the open. "Well, I had hoped to hunt you down," Adam said, carelessly dropping the rocket launcher to the ground. "It would have been more fun that way." He moved toward her and she slid into a defensive stance, hands raised.
"I won't go back with you," she said softly, watching him carefully. He stopped, looking slightly puzzled.
"But… you have to come back," Adam said, sounding surprised. "The Doctor wants you back."
"Tough," Kyrie snapped. "I don't have to blindly obey him any more. I'm free now. And I won't go back!!" On the end of the shouted words, she sprang at him, aiming for his face. To her surprise, he dodged her easily, grinning all the while.
"I have to bring you back, Eve," he said, bringing up his fists. "Alive was all that was specified. If I have to beat the hell out of you to do it, that's fine by me." His left arm snapped out, catching her in the stomach. The air whooshed out of her lungs and she fell to her knees gaging. She barely managed to block the kick he aimed at her ribs. She rode the impact back, staggering to her feet. Come on, she thought fiercely, Piccolo taught you better than this. She stayed ahead of his next few punches, but he slipped through her defenses and dealt her a vicious blow to the side of the face. Stunned, she fell down, hands over her face.
She heard him laugh as he reached down and grabbed her wrists. He had at least a foot of height and a hundred pounds on her. Piccolo's words echoed in her head, "When grappling with an opponent that is both larger and stronger, never let yourself be pinned." She stayed limp as he pulled her closer, releasing one wrist to catch her around the waist. The smug look of victory on his face infuriated her and she could feel the heat rising inside. This time, she welcomed it, knowing how to harness it. His face was only centimeters away—
"I won't go back!!!" she screamed, releasing the ki strike at point blank range. Adam's surprised cry was cut short as the force of the blast sent him flying backwards across the clearing. Kyrie was running before he even hit the ground. She fled into the welcoming darkness of the forest, never looking back. Her heartbeart thundered in her ears, deafening her to the sounds of the night. Panting harshly, she never felt the debris on the forest floor tearing into her unprotected feet. The stitch in her side was agonizing and the pain in her abused face throbbed in time with the rhythm of her pulse. And still she ran. She closed her eyes for a second, to blink away the sweat that was dripping down her forehead.
Then she hit what felt like a brick wall. She landed on her back, eyes wide open and staring. She was generating a hasty ki ball to lob at the figure before her when the hazy dawn light illumated his features. The ki ball sputted and died.
"Piccolo!" she managed to choke out. She stared stupidly at the hand he held out to her. "I—I think I killed him!" She couldn't even managed to lift her hand to his.
Piccolo frowned. What was she talking about? He stared down at the human girl shivering at his feet, taking in her disheveled appearance. When he saw the huge bruise already beginning to spread on the left side of her face, his eyes iced over. He knelt down slowly, reaching out for her face.
Kyrie couldn't stop herself from flinching when he touched her and the flicker of emotion that crossed his face made her feel petty and small. His fingers gently examined the bruise, turning her face from side to side, then slid away. She caught his hand in her own before he could move away, and pressed her face against his palm.
He inhaled sharply at her actions. Then she opened her eyes and stared up at him, the trust evident. He swallowed against the lump that had materialized in his throat. "I'll go and check," he said gruffly. "See what happened." She nodded, letting go of his hand. He pulled off the long white cloak he wore and handed it to her. "Don't move. Wait here for me." She nodded, hugging the warm cloth to her chest. Piccolo gave her one last look then took to the air.
Seething, he streaked back to the clearing where the house had been. The son-of-a-bitch responsible had better be dead, he thought savagely, or by Kami, I'll make sure he'll regret this night. When he landed, he could see where Kyrie had fought, but other than a broken bush and a few drops of blood, there was no trace of another person.
(Next time: Kyrie's been tracked down, and it's a sure bet that the Facility isn't going to give up easily! Will she finally 'fess all to Piccolo? And what happened to Adam??)
