The underground room was cold, dark, and sterile. A group of scientists in white lab coats stood in a circle around the large cylindrical tank, filled with amniotic fluid, that dominated the middle of the room. A cylindrical container that was currently the home to a woman, kept permanently frozen in a state of unconsciousness with her vitals projected on various screens and monitors throughout the room for the world to see. She floated in the tank, a tube dispensing oxygen shoved down her throat. Naked, hair swirling slowly in the fluid, face obscured. The container was glowing due to the multitude of lights scattered throughout its surface, pulsating to the beat of her heart, steady and sure, yet undeniably ominous when compared to the overall silence of the room.
"Subject is stable." One scientist said, keenly observing her.
"Vitals are good." Another one said, diverting his attention between the clipboard in his hands and the woman in the tank.
"Excellent." another voice said, this time coming from an elderly man dressed sharply in a silk suit. "Drain the tank and let her out. Time for us to see what she can do."
One scientist walked towards the tank and jabbed a large red button on its side. A loud buzzing was heard throughout the room, followed by gurgling as the tank began to simultaneously drain itself of the fluid and lower its walls. The tank emptied itself completely, and the woman fell to the ground. Hard. Unresponsive. They waited with baited breath.
She remained there for a few moments, and the scientists began speaking once more.
"Abnormal," one said.
"The Asset came out ready to fight..." said another, "We could barely control him."
"Perhaps these trials shouldn't have been conducted on a woman," the scientist who had pushed the red button said, pushing his black-framed glasses up his nose. "Pierce, what do yo-"
He didn't finish his sentence. The woman on the floor had regained consciousness, as if an electric shock had coursed through her body. Ripping the oxygen tube from her throat, she lunged at the bespectacled scientist next to her, slamming into him and sending him flying across the floor and into a concrete wall. He crumpled to the ground, blood dripping from every orifice . Before anyone else in the room had registered what happened, she was on her feet, spitting wisps of dark hair out of her mouth, eyes darting around wildly. Another scientist reached out towards her and the slight movement seemed to set her off as she charged towards him, lightning fast, wrapping her hands around his throat and effectively crushing his windpipe.
There was commotion.
"Sedate her, imbeciles!" Alexander Pierce roared, watching the woman in front of him destroy yet another one of his men.
One of the three remaining scientists fumbled in the pocket of his lab coat and retrieved a large syringe. Bravely, he darted towards her, only to be violently slapped away.
"S-she's like… she's like him, sir!" A scientist cried, backing away from her, "Only faster!"
Pierce watched her, his mouth set in a hard line. Finally, he strode forward himself, right into the woman's path, reaching out a daring hand to grip a large handful of her hair. He ignored her screech of pain as he beckoned to the remaining scientists in the room, signalling for them to grab her arms. As she was restrained, he used his free hand to reach into another scientist's pocket, coming up with yet another syringe, pleased to note that they had followed his instructions and equipped themselves with a syringe full of sedative each. Using his teeth to rip off the protective cover laying over the needle, he jammed it into the side of her neck, and pushed down on the plunger, dispensing three times the normal amount required for a regular female of her size. Her struggling ceased, and all was quiet.
"But not stronger." Pierce said grimly.
She had been reborn in fire and ice. The pathetic imitation of a mother's womb had failed, not even coming close to what she had supposed the warmth and security of a legitimate one would be. Her rebirth had been sterile and miserable; an eternity suspended in frigid fluid, only to be quite literally dumped on a hard, unyielding floor. When she had opened her eyes for the first time and actually looked down at the floor, a word had popped into her head.
Tile.
She had known the floor was tile, and she had known what tile was, but if one were to ask her how she knew what tile was, she wouldn't be able to answer them. And that thought in it of itself sent a feeling burning its way throughout her brain and coursing through her veins. A familiar feeling. One that she knew as fear. Who was she? What was she?
Perhaps it was that fear that possessed her as she laid eyes on the large group of men wearing lab coats that surrounded her as if she were an animal in a zoo. Perhaps it was that fear that prompted her to attack.
She moved with ease and speed that even she knew was unnatural. There was something in her throat causing her immense pain, and she ripped it out, giving herself instant relief. Cold, clean oxygen flooded through her body, and she filled to the brim with a sense of lightness and clarity.
The breath of life.
She sent the first man flying into the wall. She crushed the windpipe of the second. The third's neck snapped under her grip, but none of these feats were effortless in the least bit. She could hear voices yelling words she didn't care about enough to understand.
She remembered what the men in the white coats were called now.
Another man was violently slapped away. She felt a brief feeling of disdain for doctors and scientists of any kind, but once again, just like the tile, didn't remember why.
Pain exploded in the back of her head. Brutal, unyielding pain. Another man, this one dressed differently than the others, had grabbed a large handful of her hair by pure luck, and was refusing to let go. She let out an animalistic sound of pain. Before she could react physically, there were more men, gripping her arms, holding them behind her back. She struggled violently, but their combined efforts were stronger than she would ever be.
A prick in her neck, so slight she should barely have been able to feel it. But she felt everything now.
Foreign liquid blazing its way throughout her veins. Painful. Hot.
The world went black.
a/n: rating subject to change, will be slightly AU, updates will be sporadic, and reviews literally keep me going. I hope you enjoyed it.