AvalonTheLadyKiller: Thank you but I think there is some confusion. She isn't an Augment but she was one of the people among them in cryo I thought that was obvious considering the first chapter. Sorry if my words had mislead you.

casper6six6: Thanks and here is more ^^.

I am being a bit cruel now, sorry about that. But this chapter had to come sometimes, I bet you were all wondering about it anyway.

Review please :)

xx

SSC

"We are here." Orlando announced the moment he returned with Khan and Zahara, to walk in closet sized room Joaquin had confined himself in.

Khan squinted his eyes against the harsh glare of the computer screen Joaquin sat in front of, within the dark room. He began to search for the light switch and found it on the wall, behind Zahara. He snaked his arm behind her and flipped on the switch.

Joaquin hardly noticed the sudden illumination and spun around on the office chair to greet them.

"Everything I had stolen from them is the files within their archive. I've unlocked most of it but the main body of information I have found is on the Wahash project." He announced in one single breathe.

"Have you gone through any of the information?" Khan asked, stepping away from the closed door and towards the man.

"No, we were waiting for you." Orlando answered, Joaquin nodded in agreement.

The captain's jaded gaze honed in on the black screen. There was a miniscule, flashing green underscore at the top left hand side of the screen. It felt almost cautioning him with its blinking tempo. He hesitated in giving the order, he felt a strange foreboding tingle roll up his spine.

He looked to Zahara from the corner of his eye. She was stiff beside him, glaring unblinking at the screen. Eagerly waiting for the unfurling of what was hidden.

He averted his attention back to Joaquin and nodded sternly.

"Let's begin."

Joaquin turned away from them. He straightened his back, raised his elbows up onto the edge of the table, and began to type.

Accessing Archive_

Project Wahash_

Founded in 1980 by Doctor Amanda Brighton. Doctor Brighton founded the project on the belief that a human race cannot be in control of creations that are superior to them as a species. Submission is the only solution. The taming of beasts after the creation of them is the only true path to achieve greatness and win wars_

The Project Wahash was introduced after salvaging what was left behind after the destruction of the Chrysalis base_

The words disappeared off the screen, a logo took its place. It was a silver skeletal in the shape of a butterfly. An insignia Augments knew all too well.

Khan's eyes widened in shock at this.

"What?" Orlando hissed, voicing his leader's alarm. Joaquin's dark brows were furrowed in concern, staring at the Chrysalis logo till it vanished.

The AI continued to type away at the screen, resuming its repertoire.

Augment DNA contains the amazing ability to heal quickly and efficiently. With this unique feature, combining the DNA with that of other predators began with promising results_

The Project Wahash consists of 5 stages_

Stage 1: Creation_

The newly developed DNA is introduced to the host body. This process takes up to a year for the body to adapt to its new genetic information. Physical and mental changes occur. Some subjects adapt the traits of the animal DNA. The DNA attacks the body like a virus does, destroying former cells and producing new growth_

There were more images and videos in gray scale. It was a portfolio displaying the scientists at work. Injecting needles in to unconscious boys and girls, stretched out on a steel table. The computer showed more images of how the substances caused them to mutate. The way the shell of their ears stretched out day by day. The way their pupils altered colour, their canines sharpened.

They were just children. They weren't born in the labs like Khan and his kind were. They were kids that were pulled out of the homes. He saw the way the experiments had caused the innocent, confusion in their wide eyed gazes. Darkened into something more primal. Murderous.

Stage 2: Domestication_

Most of the fully formed subjects have no memory of their former life. Their reaction to authority is most livid and dangerous. Series of methods are used to subdue them_

The same children who looked like young adolescences were cornered, beaten. They disobeyed, clawed and hissed back and the soldiers continued discipline them.

Stage 3: Obedience_

In order to gain full compliance from these creatures. Doctor Hemming a brilliant scientist well versed in the matters of the human mind, had developed a form of mind control_

The moon rimmed spectacled man, with his cloud like hair and beak nose flashed on to the screen. A low growl left the base of Zahara's throat and pierced the deep concentrated silence.

Unfortunately severe side effects occur due to the program. These side effects including depression that evolves to madness and then suicidal tendencies_

The next series of images made Orlando jump back in surprise. It was more of these children, furiously throwing themselves at grey walls. Some were clawing feverishly at their arms, leaving deep jagged wounds. They were screaming, there was no audio so they couldn't hear their cries. But Khan felt it, each and every single one. Felt their agony seep through the bland screen and into his heart like poison.

He couldn't watch for long, his eyes felt like they were burning within its sockets. He averted his attention to Zahara for a moment.

She was snarling. Her teeth were bared, her eyes narrowed and murderous but they were also glassy. She was suppressing her sadness with the only reaction that had ever saved her, rage.

She had suffered the same as they had. Her deep hate for Hemming made sense, painfully so. Whatever it was the man had done to them had pushed them to the precipice of madness. He wondered how she even survived.

The first batch of test subjects have been fruitless_

We discovered age is a very determining factor in these experiments. The subjects who were older had overcome the depression_

A list began to ascend up the screen, like a cast list in the end of a horror movie Khan furiously read at the names only to find they were just numbers. The AI began to draw lines across certain records that reached the top of the screen. It was a combination of digits with a letter beside it. There was a system behind it. The letter could have been in accordance to their cell or the batch of subjects. He noticed there were only letters from A to E. He found relief in that. If it ended with Z there would have been a lot more Wahash to deal with.

An army.

Zahara was familiar with the system, because the moment another line was drawn over a particular combination of two numbers and a letter, she gasped.

"What is this list?" She demanded urgently, her claws dug into the backrest of Joaquin's chair. He immediately paused the computer's recitation and tapped at the keys on the keyboard.

The screen immediately shifted to another page with the different designations =, set out on a field of lists. Five rows, twenty subjects per row. The ID that she had her eye on was among the numbers in the second column.

"It is the list of subjects that had not survived the third stage." Joaquin answered.

"Fifteen B." Zahara whispered through trembling lips. Her eyes were wide in shock, her arms were shaking at her sides.

"That's her." She choked out. Khan immediately knew the cause of her alarm. Why she was so distressed over a simple combination of numbers and a letter.

OBEDIENCE helps weed out the unworthy.

It was written in bold, above the field of names.

Khan had not seen or spoken to Zahara in over three hours, not since she isolated herself into the bedroom after they returned.

The information from the archive left a heavy imprint on all of them. But he empathized more for her, after all, she had just discovered her main desire for freeing her kind had died.

Her sister had died in the stage she survived. Joaquin had filled Khan in on the rest of the information they had gathered. The time it takes for each stage, the number of subjects. The only questions that have yet to be answered is the name of the fund-er of the project and the date the Wahash are meant to attack.

Joaquin estimated the time it takes for each stage was roughly three months. Which means Zahara's sister had been dead for six months prior to her installation at the Palace and she had no idea.

Khan stood up from his seat at his table and began making his way to his bedroom. He didn't want her to grieve alone any longer.

He opened the doors and stepped in. Night had fallen yet she was completely numb to the absent sun. Zahara hadn't bothered to turn on the lights. It took him a moment but he found her. She sat sandwiched between his bedside table and corner of the wall with the window. She had her legs stretched out in front of her, her arms rested limply at her sides and her head was lowered.

Under his piercing gaze she raised her head to acknowledge his presence. Her body language was submissive and not at all hostile like he expected, but it wasn't welcoming either. A dark cloud of melancholy hung around her, he dared to approach.

He moved in like he was testing waters that he had been warned is infested with piranhas. She didn't lash out, she remained still, watching him.

"They strip us of our memories."

The broken, raspy tenor of her voice made him freeze. It sounded like she had been suppressing her sobs. He saw no streaks of dried waterlines on her cheeks. He had read about this part of grief, the numbness before the realization hit.

"You mentioned that." He responded softly. He sat down by the soles of her feet. He aligned his back to the side of the bed. His gentle, glittering eyes were focused on her, urging her to continue.

"It is so we have no attachments, nothing to sway us from our purpose in life. They told us that the tribe they bought us from didn't have much use with us, it makes forgetting them that much easier." She paused, her words hung in the air around him. The children, all of them had shared the same dark, tan features before their mutation. They were all from tribes in the desert or orphaned from the streets. Children that were exposed to the wilderness and had the ability to survive. Were those their intentions? Khan wondered.

Zahara brought her hands up to her lap, it was a strenuous action, as if her arms were lead. He observed her as she stared down at her palms with that same dazed look in her eye. She was drifting, her mind was a million miles away. He wanted her back, he wanted her with him.

He reached out and gently slipped his hand into hers. She winced, startled by the warmth or the act, he did not know. But he was relieved that she did not pull away.

"But I never lost my will." She confessed her fingers curled around his, finding strength in his touch "I always knew I would get out and I thought it would be with her."

Her voice cracked at the end and he waited for the tears, but there was still none. She lowered her head and her face disappeared behind a mass of copper curls.

He leaned in, his body hunched over to meet her gaze.

"There is still a chance for the rest of them."

"She was the one that matters."

Khan hated himself for not embracing her all those years ago when she had looked up at him with those tear brimmed eyes. Full of despair and vulnerability. He didn't know how to show such emotion, having never experienced it with such intensity. But now, being the presence of complete strangers who are also his enemies. Being the only one of his kind awake and coerced into building war ships and weapons.

He wanted nothing more than human touch, someone to let him know he wasn't alone. To be embraced by someone…needing someone…who wasn't among the living any longer.

The one that matters

Khan knew her words would continue to haunt him. Haunt him, urge him till he did what was right. What he owed to his family.