Chapter 2: The Anathema of Control.

-One Year Later-

"Removing half her brain was the easy part. Getting the replacement parts properly interfaced with what we left in was a whole other matter entirely."

"Hmm…well I don't know exactly what you did or how it works, but the tests speak for themselves. I'm completely sold on her abilities."

"I see. Do remember that this is only a prototype of the newest model, and if you were to wait just a few more months, we could have another model ready that has less glitches in it…"

"No, it can't be done. I have need of her services immediately. This can't wait."

"Ahh I see. If I may inquire as to the nature of her upcoming tasks…"

"I would avoid such questions if I were you. That kind of curiosity is unwise to harbor, especially in your line of work, I would think."

"Right, right, you are entirely correct, sir. But if we had say, a more specific understanding of what she would be doing, we can tweak their specifications to make her-"

"That will not be necessary. Her raw form suits my needs perfectly."

"Very well. How soon do you need her? We would like to have a few more weeks to try to purge her system of the remaining glitches. Some of them are fairly severe. Being able to override certain command sequences is an almost fatal problem."

"I need her by the end of this week. Do what you can. My boss has his own reasons as to why he needs her so soon, but I believe she is….expendable."

"I see. Well we'll get to work then. If you were to come back in a few months, there will be a glitch free model that we are putting into mass production. They'll be cheaper, more reliable, and will outperform this prototype."

"I will inform my boss in case we ever need your services again. Thank you for your time, Mr. Gibson. I shall be contacting you sometime tomorrow to set the specifics for when I'll be picking her up.

"Very well. Good day, Sir"

The man started to turn away, but paused. He turned back. "By the way, out of curiosity, does she have a name? Are they given names?

Mr. Gibson smiled slightly. "Yes, they all retain their birth names, if they had them when they came in. Otherwise, we name them."

"Well then, what is her name?

"Her name is Maya."

The man paused, thinking. After a moment he stirred, shook his head a little, and said, "Ah. Very well, goodbye."

"Goodbye, sir."

Mr. Gibson watched as the other man walked out to the luxurious black car and got inside. As the car departed, he turned back and returned to the inside of the cathedral. He and his team had a lot of work to do before the girl was even close to being finished. Sending a quick prayer to the Lord for strength, he mentally prepared himself for a week of sleepless nights and endless days. These glitches weren't going to purge themselves.

The man who had gotten into the car and drove away forced himself to sit upright and focus. He quickly pulled out his phone and checked the time: 12:49. His slick black car sped along the densely packed rush hour streets of downtown L.A.

Lunch was for some reason a major thing here, something that the man found unfathomable. How all these people had the luxury of waiting around in traffic, eating a meal, then waiting in traffic again to get back to their offices was beyond him. Taking two hours or more to have lunch was beyond him. Such waste.

While the driver continued to weave in-between minute gaps in traffic, the man, known currently as Sa'eed sent a quick message to his boss informing him of the girl's results in the tests and her known glitches, along with a request to confirm the pickup date. He tried to wait patiently for a response, but his fingers and feet betrayed him, tapping on the floor and his knees in quick, impatient spurts.

Finally, after what seemed like a small eternity, his boss sent him back the confirmation for the pickup date. Everything was moving according to their original plan.

Sa'eed sighed and sat back in his seat, allowing his mind to relax and the memories of the tests wash over him. Over the course of his life, he had seen humanity at its worst. He'd been a part of humanity at its worst more than once. Yet even he was shaken by what he had observed. She would certainly be capable of performing the tasks his boss needed her for, but would she listen? Those glitches the project manager was mentioning sounded serious, yet his boss would book no delays. Would his boss's impatience inadvertently force him to have to possibly restrain this girl? A chill descended down his spine at the thought. He had never known how much a human body could suffer without dying before today, and his mind shrank away from the prospect of being put in the same situation as the girl's targets were earlier.

I sure hope Hayes knows what he's getting into. If the girl snaps somehow and turns against us, we stand no chance of winning any kind of engagement with her. Eventually she'll have us all dead, one way or another.

…

-Awaken-

Her eyes flew open. Images flooded through her retinas and were instantaneously processed by her brain.

-Stand-

She immediately got up off the table and stood, barefoot, on the stone floor. Before her stood a man in his early 30s: tall, medium build, blonde, with an air about him that gave away the fact that he was important. Or at least felt important.

He smiled at her. "Hello, Maya."

"Hello."

She watched him glance over to where a monitor displayed a staggering array of vital signs. Heart rate, pulse, blood chemical composition, brain activity, amounts of pressure exerted on various joints, and a full thermal image of what looked like a young woman's body, among others. Her vital signs, she realized. Puzzled, she checked her body for any external monitors and found none.

The man watched her as she checked her body, a smile still lighting his features. After about five seconds of checking, she stopped and looked at him with an expression that demanded an answer.

"Your vitals are being tracked by wireless sensors imbedded throughout your body. If I were you, I wouldn't try to pull them out. The last time someone tried that, we spent a month attempting to salvage what was left of his body. He only managed to find one anyways. You are much stronger than you think, and even though your body has been modified to compensate, it still can take only so much abuse."

She stared at him. He began to sweat a little.

-Calm down-

All of a sudden a wave of calm washed over her. She could remember everything, but suddenly she wasn't on the verge of disemboweling the man who just told her that he and others had imbedded monitoring devices in her and had altered her body without her consent. There also was the fact that she didn't really know where she was, or who she was for that matter. So many questions that needed answers…

"You must have a lot of questions."

She nodded.

"You aren't getting any answers. You don't need any."

She lunged at him. The movement was so fast that the world around her became a blur.

-Stop-

She stopped. More accurately, she staggered a full 20 paces past him before she could come to a complete halt. She turned to face him, complete surprise warring with panic and anger for control of her face.

The smile returned to the man's face. She longed to put her fist through it.

"Neat, isn't it? No I won't tell you what it is. Needless to say, you can't fight it and I control it. You do what I want, whenever I want. No excuses, no disobedience."

Her mouth fell open as she stared at him in pure disbelief. Nobody could completely control another human. Taking away another living, breathing person's free will and making that person submit to their own was just so…monstrous.

The man's smile faded to be replaced by simple neutrality. "Shall I demonstrate?"

He didn't have to do anything. He just stood there. But there it came, just like all the previous commands.

-Touch the ceiling-

She looked up. The arched stone ceiling was over 30 meters off the ground. No way I can jump that high…Her body crouched down, tensing the muscles in her calves, and jumped. She flew through the air, arm stretched upwards to a wooded support beam 20 meters up. She used it to vault up the rest of the way. Her hand made complete contact with the ceiling. She swung her feet up to come into contact with the ceiling to brace against the impact, and pushed off, careening towards the floor.

The cold, unforgiving, stone floor.

The floor that was going to break every bone in her body, if she was any judge of how fast she was moving. Mentally she braced for impact. Her body seemed to be doing it's own thing.

She watched in amazement as her body landed, doing a foreword roll to mitigate the force of the impact. Somehow she knew the forces placed on her body was about four times the amount normally needed to shatter the bones in her legs…if they were normal legs…she had no idea what they were anymore. What she was anymore.

A mutant?

Some kind of super-human?

Half-robot?

Whatever I am, I'm not fully human anymore. And why do I hear clapping?

She straightened and turned around. The man was still there, clapping his hands in applause.

Oh. Right.

She tried to rush him again, fingers extended, attempting to find his delicate little throat and crush it.

-Stop-

Her body lurched to a halt.

-You don't have control over your body. I do.I decide what you can and cannot do. I am the master, you are the slave. And when the slave disobeys, the slave shall be punished-

She glared at him. Pure hate lanced from her eyes and bored into his skull, trying desperately to cook his brain from the inside out. She didn't know who she was. She didn't know where she was. All she knew was that she couldn't leave, couldn't escape, and had to do whatever this man told her to do. Including…

-Take off your clothes-

Her eyes widened in shock as her fingers pulled off the white medical shift she had been wearing. It fell to the floor, and she stood there, naked, facing this man with no way to resist him.

-Walk over to me. Do not attempt to kill or resist me in any way. Do not try to run-

She walked over to him, her mind still screaming in protest at every step she took. She got within a foot of him and stopped, looking slightly up at him. For some absurd reason, she wished he was shorter.

He looked back with a hunger, his eyes skittering up and down her body with ill concealed delight. He held up a hand and slowly brushed her hair back, tucking it behind her ear. She could actually hear his elevated heart rate, hear his breathing become faster. His hand went from her hair to her breast, cupping it. His thumb ran back and forth along the nipple. She could feel slight stirrings of arousal, but denied them. He wasn't getting anything out of this.

His eyebrows furrowed slightly. He sensed her resistance.

-Enjoy this-

Her nipple stiffened. Her heart rate and breathing sped up to match his. She had never felt so helpless in her entire life. Never felt so frustrated. Her mind was trying with all it's might to kill this man who stood in front of her and so arrogantly molested her, and yet she couldn't do it. Her body wouldn't listen to her. And to make matters worse, her body was actually enjoying this.

Can I enjoy something like this even though it's being forced upon me by a man I hate? I wonder if this is what rape victims go through…she gave herself a mental shake. No, this isn't what rape feels like. Rape victims can struggle. I can't.

A tear started to roll down her cheek. He wiped it away with a thumb, and moved in closer, placing his lips next to her ear.

"You won't remember a thing. I promise you that. Your buyer is coming to pick you up today, so I'm doing a final functions check. I have to see if you are working properly, and that means I have to check everything. Especially this."

She wanted to scream at him. Flay him alive. Force him to endure an eternity of suffering. All she did was moan softly. One of his hands was stroking her hair while the other moved from her breast down even lower. Unwillingly she gasped softly as his fingers began to move: up and down, in and out. Teasing her. She felt herself become wet, felt the desire for him to go further, deeper. She moaned again.

His lips found hers, and she found herself responding to him with an abandon that sickened her. He was leading her down to the floor, which suddenly was covered by sheets from somewhere…her bed.

He broke off the kiss, his lips finding their way back to her ear. "You won't remember a thing." Warm and soft, his words were meant to comfort. But whether they were meant to comfort him or her, she didn't know. All she knew was that she was completely powerless. Powerless to do anything, except cry.

And wait.

She awoke at the sound of approaching footsteps. Two men, one obviously a man of high standing, the other…Nervous was the word that came to mind. Her fingers flexed, instinctively wishing for a weapon. She had already searched the small room she had been taken to, and there wasn't anything well suited to the task.

I could brain them with the sink if it wasn't so well attached to the wall…

You never know, they could be good people trying to help you. A part of her said. She almost laughed at the notion. Ever since she had woken up in this room, something had changed inside her. The older mental memory blocks the scientists had put in place were weakening. Slowly, the memories of what had been happening to her were coming back in chronological order. She now knew what she was and what she was trained to do.

She was a slave, trained and biologically enhanced to aid her in her intended role: an assassin. A trained killer who had both extensive mental conditioning and…something else. She didn't know what it was yet, but she did remember her body acting and doing things against her will, and the realization was driving her mad.

The footsteps stopped at her door. A key was inserted, protesting noisily as it was turned in the lock.

-Sit on the bed and don't move-

The nervous man in the labcoat went in first. He followed, doing a peripheral sweep before closing the solid oak door behind him. The girl was sitting with her arms hugging her legs to her chest in a ball on a cot set against the side of the wall. Her attire was basic but tasteful: blue jeans, white blouse with the sleeves rolled up, and sneakers. The blouse enhanced the effect of her pale blond hair and alabaster skin, making her appear somewhat ethereal. But what truly set off the effect were her eyes. Pale green, calculating, wary, and cold. The eyes of a hunter.

Her appearance is that of someone who has great natural beauty and poise…But her body language is saying she's still a child. This program obviously doesn't place much emphasis on anything but the bare necessities her occupation requires... She truly is beautiful though.

There were two chairs placed in the center of the room facing the cot. The scientist, a sweaty, nervous man who had introduced himself as Edgard Morales, went and sat down in one of them, indicating that he should do the same. He sat, noticing how the girl constantly tracked his movements. His gaze met hers again, and he detected an undercurrent of uncertain hope in her expression.

He cleared his throat softly. "Hello Maya."

"Hello." Her tone was feathery soft, luring him in.

"My name is Mr. Hayes." He paused, wondering how much she truly knew about what had happened to her. He was told there was a specific procedure he had to follow in this meeting, and that he could only ask certain questions and give out so much information. Curiosity got the better of him, though. "Do you know why I'm here, Maya?"

Morales shot a shocked glance his direction. This was definitely a question outside the set boundaries.

The girl noticed the scientist's reaction, and was encouraged. She relaxed her grip on her calves, and some of the tension in her bled away.

"You're here to take me away from this place. You bought me, and I'm to start working for you."

Morales was wide-eyed with shock. She wasn't supposed to know any of this so early in the process. Granted, she was a next-gen prototype, but this was outside of what she was allowed to know.

Mr. Hayes continued. "Yes. Maya, do you know what you're job is while working for me?"

She hesitated, unsure quite how to respond. She glanced at the scientist, then him, then back at the scientist again. The pause lasted only for a few seconds, then she replied. "Killing people."

He paused for a second, admiring her composure. She looked to be anywhere from 15 to 18, but looks were deceiving. Her body's aging process was slowed significantly, increasing her longevity and her usefulness. As he remembered, her dossier said she was actually 22.

He gave himself a mental shake. As fascinating as this process she went through was, he had to focus on the girl curled up on the cot in front of him. The scientist sweating next to him and clutching faintly at the cross around his neck was. It was still a mystery to him as to why the Church was behind this program, but this didn't seem like the right time to ask. Obviously this little meeting isn't going exactly to plan. This man seems to have had a series of nasty shocks thanks to this girl. She knows far more than she should.

He allowed himself a small smile. Good.

"Exactly. That and much more, if you're willing."

She paused again to think. Either that, or was simply enjoying watching Morales sweat. Her responses were obviously causing him to panic, and his rejection of set procedures wasn't helping. This question was particularly scary. None of the others had been allowed to refuse to work for their buyer. And how much more does she know? How much control over herself does she actually have?

What if she refused to work for him? We haven't planned for this type of scenario. What if she refused to work for anyone? All the work they had put into her would be wasted…The cost would be enormous. So much waste all because this man wanted to give her a choice…

Morales couldn't take it any longer.

-Accept the offer-