~~
"My baby," Mahi whispered, her voice cracking. "My little girl... "
She let out a broken sob, her body folding forward as though the weight of her grief was too much to bear.
Mahim stood at the back of the room,
"She saved Subject 0002, threw herself in front of that monster to protect someone else. She didn't hesitate.
She's five years old and alreadywilling to die for others. She's so impossibly brave. She faced a creature three times her size with nothing but a rock and bare hands. "
He let out a shaky breath, his hand pressing against his forehead.
"I don't know how she does it. I don't know how she keeps going. If I had been through even a fraction of what she's been through, I would have given up a long time ago."
Fahim stood near the console, his face pale. His fingers were trembling but his voice was steady—carefully controlled.
"She's displaying signs of severe physical exhaustion, Her body has been pushed beyond its limits. The adrenaline that kept her going has faded and now she's crashing."
He paused, his voice dropping even lower.
"She needs proper care. And she needs to stop fighting for her life for just a moment."
Ohi sat beside Naya, his face buried in his hands. "I can't watch her suffer anymore."
~~
Subject 0002's hands stilled. The poultice was ready— a thick, dark green paste that glistened faintly in the dim light of the cave.
It was as good as she could make it with the limited resources available.
She let out a slow breath, her shoulders sagging with exhaustion. Then she looked up and froze.
All three of them were standing there, watching her.
Subject 0011, Subject 0014, and Subject 0004—huddled together near the entrance of the cave like a flock of startled birds.Their postures rigid with tension.
Subject 0014 was gripping the edge of the cave wall, his knuckles white.
Subject 0004 had his arms crossed over his chest but his fingers were digging into his own biceps. Subject 0011 was standing slightly behind the others, his thin frame trembling.
They were all staring at her. At the poultice in her hands. At Maya's unconscious form lying on the ground beside her.
Subject 0002's eye twitched. Her voice, when it came, was sharp enough to cut glass. "What are you all standing around for? Get out."
Subject 0011 blinked, "But, but we want to help—"
"Help?" Subject 0002's voice rose, carrying a note of incredulity.
"You want to help? You're standing there like a bunch of frightened rabbits, staring at me like I'm about to perform surgery.
You're not helping. You're hovering."
Subject 0014 shifted his weight, his brow furrowing. "We're just worried about her—"
"Worried?" Subject 0002 cut him off, her sharp eyes fixing on him with a glare that could have withered a lesser man.
"If you were worried, you'd be out there finding more supplies, not standing here gawking at me."
Subject 0011 flinched, his head snapping up. "But—but we want to see if she's okay."
"I'm going to apply medicine to Maya's body," Subject 0002 cut him off.
"Her vital signs are stable. She's resting. I need to clean the blood off her clothes and apply a fresh bandage."
She paused, her sharp eyes fixing on the three boys with a look that could have frozen lava.
"I need to remove her uniform. Which means you need to leave. Now."
Subject 0011's face went pale. His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. No sound came out.
Subject 0014 blinked, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Wait—why do we need to—"
Subject 0002's voice dropped, carrying an edge of cold menace. "Are you asking me why you can't stay and watch me remove her clothes?"
Subject 0014's face went red. His mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air.
"Let me ask a question, do you want to watch me undress her?"
Subject 0014's face went from red to white. He shook his head so fast that his bald head seemed to blur.
Subject 0002's gaze shifted to Subject 0011. "Do you want to see?"
Subject 0011 shook his head so hard that his glasses nearly flew off his face.
Subject 0002's eyes flicked to Subject 0014, the last one remaining. "And you? Are you going to stand there and watch?"
Subject 0004's face remained a mask of stone, but a faint flush crept up the back of his neck.
Subject 0002 let out a long, weary sigh. She pressed her hand against her forehead, her fingers massaging her temples.
"I can't believe this, I am surrounded by idiots. Complete and utter idiots."
She lowered her hand, her sharp eyes fixing on the three boys with renewed intensity.
"I'm going to say this one more time. Get. Out and take your creepy, hovering energy with you."
Subject 0011 was the first to move. He scrambled for the cave entrance, his feet slipping on the rocky floor.
Subject 0014 followed a heartbeat later, his broad frame nearly colliding with Subject 0011 as they both tried to exit at the same time.
Subject 0004 lingered for just a moment longer, his gaze flickering to Maya's pale face. Then he turned and followed the others.
Subject 0002 watched them go. When they were finally gone, she let out a slow breath, her shoulders sagging with relief.
"Finally, peace and quiet."
She turned back to Maya. Her fingers brushing against the torn and bloodied uniform.
She reached down, her movements gentle, and began to remove the damaged fabric.
Outside the cave, the three boys stood in a tight cluster, their faces flushed, their eyes fixed on the ground.
Subject 0014 was the first to speak. "She's terrifying."
Subject 0011 nodded vigorously. "I thought she was going to kill me with her eyes."
Subject 0004 remained silent, his expression unreadable but he inclined his head in agreement.
Subject 0014 let out a long, slow breath.
"I think she scares everyone."
Subject 0011 nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, she does.I can't believe she kicked us out."
Subject 0014 let out a low chuckle, shaking his head. "I can't believe you actually asked why."
Subject 0011's flush deepened. "I didn't—I wasn't thinking—"
"That's the problem," Subject 0004 said,his voice carrying a rare note of dry humor.
"You never think."
Subject 0011 opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. He couldn't argue with that.
Subject 0002's hands moved with practiced care as she began to remove Maya's uniform.
The fabric was torn, soaked with blood and dirt, clinging to the small body beneath. She worked slowly, carefully, trying not to jostle the unconscious girl more than necessary.
Her fingers found the fastenings of the grey uniform. One by one, she loosened them, peeling the damaged fabric away from Maya's skin.
The material was stiff with dried blood, sticking to the wounds beneath.
She paused, her brow furrowing as she caught a glimpse of what lay beneath. She had expected bruises. She had expected scrapes, the kind of injuries that came from a hard-fought battle.
But what she saw made her breath catch in her throat.
The grey fabric fell away, revealing Maya's thin shoulders, her fragile collarbone. Subject 0002's hands stilled.
Maya's body was a canvas of scars. Old scars and new ones, woven together in a chaotic tapestry that told a story of relentless suffering.
Pale white lines crisscrossed her skin like the shattered remains of a once-whole mirror. Some were deep, gnarled, the kind of scars that never truly fade.
Dark, mottled patches of discolored skin marred her torso and arms, the result of repeated injections and chemical exposure.
The skin was thickened in some places, thin and fragile in others, as though it had been burned and healed and burned again.
Others were greenish-yellow, older wounds that were still healing.
Subject 0002's jaw tightened. Her sharp eyes moved across Maya's small body, cataloging every mark, every scar, every visible wound.
Her mind, trained to observe and analyze, cataloged what she saw. Broken ribs, at least three. Old fractures that had healed poorly.
But then her breath caught.
There was a patch of skin on Maya's right shoulder. It was discolored, the texture different from the rest of her skin. Subject 0002 leaned closer, her eyes narrowing.
It wasn't a wound. It wasn't a scar. It was a mark—a faint, almost invisible pattern.0002 reached out, her fingers hovering just above the mark.
She had seen marks like this before. The serpent's venom was deadly, capable of causing massive tissue damage but it left no lasting marks.
This was something that had been injected into Maya's skin, something that had left a permanent trace.
Her breathing became shallow. Her hands trembled.She leaned back, her sharp eyes fixed on Maya's still, pale face.
~~
The image of Maya's scarred, broken body lingered on the projection— a canvas of suffering that seemed to stretch on forever.
Her thin frame, barely visible beneath the layers of marks, lay motionless in the dim light of the cave. Subject 0002 sat beside her, frozen, her face a mask of horror.
Mahi's knuckles had turned white. Her entire body was shaking, "Look at what they did to my baby. Look at what they did to her."
A tear slipped down her cheek, then another, then a steady stream that she couldn't stop.
Mahim stood at the back of the room, his eyes— his eyes were red-rimmed and glistening with unshed tears.
"I've seen wounds before. I've seen men torn apart by war. But this...This was done to a child. A child who was supposed to be protected.
A child who was supposed to be loved. And instead,she was treated like an experiment.
She's so small and her body is covered in scars. She's been hurt so many times."
"The chemical marks on her skin," Fahim said quietly, "they're consistent with prolonged exposure to experimental substances.
The burns, the discoloration— they're the result of repeated injections and chemical treatments."
~~
The cave was silent, save for the soft, steady rhythm of Maya's breathing.
The dim light filtering through the entrance cast long, wavering shadows across the rough stone walls, painting the scene in muted shades of grey and amber.
Subject 0002 sat motionless, her sharp eyes fixed on the small body before her.
Her hands, usually so steady and precise, were trembling. She pressed them against her knees, trying to still the tremor but it wouldn't stop.
Her breath came in shallow, uneven gasps as she stared at the scars that covered Maya's thin frame.
"I've been in this facility for fifteen years," she whispered, her voice barely audible.
"Fifteen years. I've endured things that would break most people. I've survived things that should have killed me."
She paused, her gaze drifting across Maya's scarred body, cataloging each mark,
"But my body doesn't look like this. Even after fifteen years— even after everything I've been through—my body doesn't look like this."
She could see the discolored patches of skin, the chemical burns that had healed poorly, leaving behind mottled, uneven textures.
"These scars, These aren't just from training. I've worn them myself."
She paused, her fingers brushing against the edge of a particularly deep scar on Maya's shoulder.
"These scars are from experiments. Extra experiments. The kind that Dr. Veyron conducts in his private laboratories.
The kind that no one talks about, that are whispered about in the corridors, late at night, when the guards aren't listening."
Her voice grew quieter as though she was speaking to herself rather than to the unconscious girl before her.
"I've heard about subjects who were taken to Level Seven and never came back. Subjects who were used for... for extra procedures. For extra testing."
Subject 0002 pressed her hand against her forehead, her fingers massaging her temples as though trying to ward off a headache.
"This facility, The people who run it. They take children apart, piece by piece and they don't care how much damage they cause.
Dr. Veyron. He's the worst of them. He's the one who designs the experiments, who decides which subjects are worthy of his 'special attention.' "
She looked at Maya's unconscious form,
"She's only five years old and they've already done more to her than they've done to most subjects in their entire lives.
Does he even know what he's doing?
No. Of course he doesn't. He doesn't care about the consequences. He doesn't care about the pain he causes. All he cares about is his research."
Subject 0002's voice dropped to a trembling whisper,
"Dr. Veyron... you are such a monster that you didn't even spare your own son."
Her words hung in the air, heavy and venomous, carrying a hatred so deep it seemed to poison the very air around her.
"I was there, Dr. Veyron. I was there when you brought him in. Your own flesh and blood. I was there when he screamed for you to stop.
You performed extra experiments on him too. The child you were supposed to protect. The child you were supposed to love."
She let out a bitter, hollow laugh, shaking her head slowly.
"And what happened? You killed him. You experimented on him until his body couldn't take it anymore. Until he stopped breathing. Until his heart gave out."
Her breathing was shallow, uneven, her entire body trembling with barely contained rage.
"You're not a scientist, Dr. Veyron. You're not a doctor. You're not even human. You're a monster wearing a lab coat.
A monster who destroys everything he touches. A monster who couldn't even love his own son.
And now you've done the same thing to a helpless child and you've turned her into another one of your experiments .'"
Subject 0002's hands moved with practiced precision as she finished wrapping the last bandage around Maya's torso.
The fabric was clean—as clean as she could make it with the limited resources available and she had secured it tightly enough to stay in place, but loosely enough to allow for movement.
She sat back on her heels, her sharp eyes scanning her work with a critical gaze.
Satisfied, she let out a slow breath and wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. She reached out, her fingers brushing against Maya's forehead, checking her temperature.
Still a little warm, but nothing she couldn't manage. The poultice would help with the inflammation and the rest would depend on Maya's own resilience.
She's lost a lot of blood. She's exhausted. But she's strong. She'll pull through."
She rose to her feet, her joints protesting with a dull ache. She stretched her arms above her head, feeling the tension in her shoulders begin to ease.
Then she turned toward the cave entrance, her voice carrying across the stone walls with practiced authority.
"You can come in now."
Nothing happened. The cave entrance remained dark and silent, the only sound the rustle of leaves in the breeze. Subject 0002's eye twitched.
She let out an exasperated sigh, her voice rising with irritation."I said you can come in now. Don't make me say it again."
There was a moment of shuffling, a few muffled whispers, and then three figures emerged from the darkness.
Subject 0011 was the first to appear, his thin frame silhouetted against the dim light. His arms were full—a large, water-filled leaf cradled in his hands, and a bundle of wild greens tucked under his arm.
His face was flushed, his glasses slightly askew, but there was a brightness in his eyes that hadn't been there before.
"I found water," he said, his voice carrying a note of quiet pride. "And greens. Edible ones."
"Good. Set them down. "
Subject 0011 nodded, moving to the back of the cave. He carefully placed the water leaf on a flat rock, then laid the greens beside it.
Subject 0014 followed close behind, his broad frame filling the entrance. He was carrying a long, thick branch, its end sharpened to a crude point.
The branch had been stripped of its bark, the wood smooth and pale.
"Found this, figured we could use it as a spear. For hunting or defense or both."
Subject 0002's sharp eyes studied the branch, then moved to Subject 0014's face. Her expression remained unreadable.
"What? It's useful."
"It is, well done."
Subject 0014 blinked, clearly caught off guard by the compliment. A faint flush crept up the back of his neck.
Subject 0004 was the last to enter. He walked with a measured calm, his injured arm still hanging limp at his side but his posture was steady.
In his hands, he held a small, limp body—a rabbit, its fur matted with blood.
Subject 0002's eyes widened, just slightly. She moved toward him, her gaze fixed on the rabbit.
"You caught a rabbit."
"It was slow."
Subject 0002's lips twitched, the barest hint of a smile. She reached out, taking the rabbit from him.
Subject 0002 moved to the fire, placing the rabbit on a flat stone near the flames. She began to prepare it, her hands moving with practiced efficiency.
The cave fell into a comfortable silence—the silence of survivors, of a group that had been through the worst and emerged together.
Subject 0011 leaned against the cave wall, his eyes fixed on Maya's face. He didn't look away, even for a moment.
And as the fire crackled and the shadows danced across the stone walls.