Chapter one: subject MM2077

The atmosphere was cold and felt heavy, the area it was surrounding being secluded. This specific section of the building had not just a dense atmosphere, but it had an eery feeling to it. It made countless waves of chills run down my spine and all of my muscles tense up. The only sound you could hear was the constant, hurried clicking noise our heels made as we speedwalked on the white tiles cemented the ground.

My honey brown eyes darted to my co-worker, who was slightly taller than me. Her aburn hair was tied up into a neat ponytail, her blue eyes widened in curiosity and fear. I could see that her pace was slowing down as we neared our destination. She was hesitating, but that did not surprise me as she was one of the most fearful people I have had the pleasure of knowing.

It still shocked me though, to see her once curious expression dissipating into the cold air.

I looked right were her eyes were glued and came to a halt. We had arrived. We both stared at the large, heavy looking door in front of us. This is where she and I had been assigned to work from now on. Behind that tall, metallic door was possibly the answer to years and years worth of unsolved cases regarding kidnapping and murder.

"Akielia?" My co-worker and friend whispered my name. I hummed in response, waiting for her to start talking. I knew what she was going to say. That I was stupid to take this offer and even more stupid for telling the higher powers to involve her. She was going to say that it was not worth it and we should just stick to dissecting rats and frogs. Why should I though? Why should I, when I know that I am destined for more?

So what if my idea of more was working in a restricted access science lab that held captive one of the most dangerous phenomenons to ever be caught?

"We shouldn't have come here," she whispered-shouted at me as if we were being listened to. "Just by walking down the passage, I can feel how evil this thing is..." She says this while digging inside her pocket for her keycard.

She wants this too, she is just having first day jitters. She'll come around.

"The government wanted only the best for this case and we were the chosen ones. Just take a breath and think about how this will benefit us in the long run." I reminded her, straightening my white lab coat. I brushed a strand of my black hair off my face while my friend, Sharlene, scanned the card.

That is how important this case was. The man that was locked behind this door is under government security. Before, I had always questioned why they were so persistent on keeping him in a science lab instead of a prison. Now, I know why:

In the beginning, we, the people who worked in St Khanna Laboratory were instructed to sign a contract that stated that we wouldn't breathe a word about this case. Not to our families, not to any journalist, not to anyone. It was pretty difficult with mobs of people swarming the property, demanding answers. This was how big this case is. It was all over the news, the bold headlines emphasizing how one of the biggest crime mysteries in the world have been solved. I got even more excited when I found out that my lab was working with the government to research him.

I just had to get involved.

Sharlene lifted the card and pressed it against the scanner, a low beep coming from it. The door slowly and dramatically slid open, a small amount of fog shooting at our feet. I felt like I was in some movie. I looked back at Sharlene to make sure that she was okay. Fear is what I found in her eyes.

She noticed my concerned stare and smiled faintly, silently reassuring me that she was ready and okay. I smiled back and we stepped inside, the doors closing behind us.

It looked just like every other science lab we had in the building, although it seemed to be slightly bigger. The walls were painted white and the ceiling lights made the room even more bright. It was almost blinding. On one side, there was a desk that carried a computer and documents on it. There were also a bunch of test tubes and beakers, some filled with various coloured substances and some were empty.

On the other side, there was a tall steel wall that took up half of the room, that must have been where he was being kept. It was to ensure that he had little to no possible exits.

"Isn't there someone supposed to be here?" Sharlene asked while looking around the room.

"I don't kno—"

"Hey there!" A man screamed, making the both of us jump back. Sharlene let out a load of curse words at the scientist that had just jumped from behind the desk. I sighed deeply and placed a hand over my chest, feeling my heart.

"What the heck, Mica!? Have you lost your mind?" Sharlene hissed, throwing her key card at him. It lightly smacked him on his chest, making him snort when it fell on the floor.

Miracle, Mica for short, was the one supervising him for the few days he's been here. I expected him to be nervous and tense in this room but if he can still joke around like that, I guess this situation isn't as bad as it was made out to be.

I hope I won't be disappointed.

Mica was still laughing by the time I snapped out of my thoughts, making me glare at him. He quickly straightened himself when he saw that I was losing my patience. "Sorry, ladies. Just a little greeting from your good friend."

"Well then, good friend. How about you brief us on what's been happening with the thing. How far have you gone with your research?" Sharlene asked him.

"We'd like to know as much as we can before continuing with him." I added, although I'm certain he already knows that. You can never be sure with Mica. He's always acting so immature that we actually start believing in his behavior.

"He doesn't talk much unfortunately, but I did retrieve some files from when they first found him. Maybe they'll help. They're on the desk, labelled 'MM: Case 27'."

"Pretty sure that they read those to the public during the conference. It was a way to calm the people down. After they found out that he was finally caught, they wanted him immediately sentenced to death." I said, recalling the night I watched the conference on television.

There was a huge press conference that was held just three days ago, where members of the government had explained to us why he wasn't arrested, but instead having research being conducted on him. They said that they wanted to write a book about the minds of the greatest murderers in the globe and he was the person who would be used as part of the payment for all of his gruesome actions.

People agreed with it, because they wanted him to suffer.

But the whole lab and the government knows that it was only to quieten the people.

"Is that all you found on him?" I asked.

Mica shrugged, "I wasn't told to do anything but watch him until you guys came... Now that you are here, I can be on my way."

With a grin, he turned to the table and grabbed his belongings, making his way towards the door. It slid open, another gust of fog coming from it. "Be careful, I hear he was pretty aggressive when he was brought in."

Sharlene scoffed, though I could tell that she didn't expect Mica to say that. "How aggressive could it be?" She asked. Mica widened his dark brown eyes, having also not expected Shar to scoff or question his statement. He ran a hand over his brown curls and continued talking, "he killed four police officers on his way here, ripped the back door of the police van and broke the spine of one of their police dogs."

"Oh no! Is the dog okay?" Sharlene gasped, staring at the metal wall he was behind with hatred.

I had no idea that it was that much of a hassle to bring him in... How is he still quietly chained up in there?

Something tells me that he could break out of there if he wanted to, and he's just waiting for the right moment.

AWESOME!

"Lift the metal wall up. I want to see him."

Sharlene shrunk back at my statement, an audible gulp coming from her. She was scared, terrified even. Whereas, I was more excited than ever. In all my years of training and working, I've never been assigned to a case as big as this. It was inevitable that I would be excited.

I just wish Sharlene wasn't so nervous about it.

I'll have to talk to her after we check the place out.

"You guys should wait here until the Head Scientist arrives to give you all of the instructions and equipment you'll need. As you see, this place is pretty empty." Mica said, looking around the lab. He moved to the table he was hiding behind and picked up a small remote, handing it to Sharlene.

"The blue button lifts the metal wall up but there is a glass wall behind it. At the moment, he is chained up so it should be safe to remove the glass wall as well. You can open that with the red button." He told us. It wasn't a hard thing to explain as the remote only had two buttons anyways. The triangular blue one and the circular red one.

"Chained up? All they used is chains? Did you not say that he ripped a door out of it's hinges?" I asked with raised brows.

"These chains, along with the rest of the equipment, were provided by the government so I'm sure they're rigged with some electrocution device, should he try to break out. You guys are good."

With that, Mica bid us goodbye and made his way out of the lab, the door closing behind him and locking with a small beep. I took another look at the lab, this was our lab now. We worked here now, alongside the government and high rank scientists.

We're high rank scientists now.

"Alright then," I started, turning to Sharlene. She was still examining the remote, so she flinched when I spoke. She looked up at me slowly, her eyes widened in surprise.

"Open it up, let's see what the most wanted man in the world looks like." I said, pointing at the remote in her hand.

She held it tightly, her hands seeming to be shaking a little bit. "Maybe we should... Wait here until more people show up. That way if it broke out of it's chains, they can control it." She explained.

Excuses excuses, I thought while rolling my eyes. Though, I did have to ask.

"Why do you keep referring to him as it? We're all certain that it's a man." I told her, pulling out one of the chairs and sitting on it. The leather was cold, making my back arch but I soon relaxed, staring up at Sharlene as I waited for her response.

"Didn't you hear what Miracle just said? I don't think a man is capable of doing all of the things he's listed."

"Highly unlikely, but not impossible." I said to her. A scientist must always be open-minded, even to the most ridiculous sounding theories.

"Maybe it's a shape-shifter of some sort... One that shifted to a man to blend in with us." She suggested.

"Like the fantasy book you were telling me about?" I asked her with a grin. She glared at me but smiled after a while, her shoulders relaxing.

Good, I need her to stop being tense.

"I just don't think it's a human, that's all."

"Why don't we remove the walls and find out?" I said, my smile fading when her shoulders tensed up again. Just as she was about to shake her head in refusal, the door we had entered through beeped and slid open, making me quickly stand up and fix myself.

Both Sharlene and I made sure that we were looking neat and presentable for whoever was entering. It couldn't be Mica and no-one else had access to this part of the building... Except for the Head Scientist and government officials themselves.

Four pairs of feet entered through the door. Two of them were walking slightly ahead, the other two stomping behind in large, heavy looking black boots. I lifted my gaze up and kept my face straight as the four men walked to us. One of the men were in a white lab coat that looked similar to ours, though his had black outlines to it. He held two tablets in his veiny hands and when I looked up, his light blue eyes were staring right into mine. He gave me a brief and discreet smile before his face went straight again.

It was our Head Scientist, Damien Moretti, and he was equivalent to a half-Italian sex god.

I could just tell that Sharlene was drooling at the sight.

He didn't spare Sharlene a glance and went back to speaking to the older man next to him, not before running a hand through his straight black hair. I turned to look at the other man that stood beside him.

He was in a full black suit. He looked to be in his late forties or early fifties, judging by the many wrinkles that had started forming on his forehead and cheeks. It seemed that he tried to dye his hair black but I could still see grey strands peeking out. I couldn't see his eyes because he was wearing black, dimmed glasses. I realized from the two guards following behind him that he was a government official.

When they stopped talking amongst themselves, they finally looked up to acknowledge us, our Head Scientist speaking first.

"Greetings ladies," he started, his deep voice making Sharlene's breath hitch. "We just wanted to come and give you a proper explanation about your task and I wanted to introduce you to one of the government officials who's going to be very active in this case." He said, the man next to him nodding at us.

I nodded back respectfully, while Sharlene just smiled.

"This is Benjamin Hughes, but you will address him as Mr Hughes. He is the one who provided us with this top notch security that you see around you."

Sharlene sighed in relief and held her hand out to the man whose eyes I still have not seen. "Thank goodness. Thank you so much for the security. I feel so much safer working here because of the barrier between us and it." She chirped.

What the heck is she doing?

I looked at her, trying my best to not glare or say anything rude. Didn't she know the rules? You never speak to your superiors like they are your friends and you certainly don't lift your hand up to shake theirs. Only they get to do that!

Mr Hughes looked down at her hand and made no attempts to shake it. Sharlene obviously didn't get the message as she just grabbed his hand anyways. Damien quickly yanked at her hand and pushed her away from the government official, his face full of horror. "Ms Banks," he said to Sharlene, "we have not even started working yet and you are already walking on thin ice. That is no way to treat your superior."

He turned to Mr Hughes apologetically, "I am so sorry, sir. I have no idea what has gotten into her. I really don't."

"I thought you picked the best scientists you had." Mr Hughes replied angrily, pulling out a bottle of what looked like sanitizer out of his pocket.

I turned to Sharlene, who still looked like she had done nothing wrong. "What are you doing? You're going to get us kicked out of this case!" I hissed at her in a whisper.

"I won't tolerate people who joke around! This is the most important case in the whole globe. Do you know how many countries are in on this? They'll want to meet these scientists and that is what they'll see?" Hughes continued, pouring the liquid on his hands. The scent of alcohol burned my nostrils, confirming that it was sanitizer.

"I was just being nice." Sharlene whispered back, not sorry for what she did.

"I refuse! I really refuse! Is this how she's going to treat him? She's going to go in there and shake his hand, then he gets the chance to escape and kill everything in sight! We are working with the most dangerous man to ever exist! Possibly not even a man!" He screeched, his voice getting raised.

Someone please shut him up, I mentally begged.

My prayer was soon answered because a terrifying screech, one that was even worse than Mr Hughes, came from behind the metal wall. We all froze on the spot, the guards behind Mr Hughes taking position and shielding him from whatever just made that demon-like noise. We all stared at the wall, knowing that it was him who had made the noise. We waited again, wanting to hear if he would continue.

Nothing, the noise stopped as fast as it had come.

My brown eyes slowly moved back to Damien and Mr Hughes. They were just as surprised as I was. Mr Hughes's opened mouth curved into a smile, a sick and satisfied smile. "Did you hear that?" He asked the obvious.

"He made a sound... He immitated my yelling." He continued with a chuckle.

I stared at the old government official in front of me with a look of displeasure. That's what he thought it was? That he would have the time to just immitate his own wretched screeching?

"Y-yes, sir. Very good uh... Very very good." Damien said slowly, still cautiously staring at the wall. I glanced at Sharlene, she looked like her soul had left her body. Her eyes were full of tears and she was shaking. I placed my hand on her shoulder with an alarmed face. She can't show them that she's scared, she can't show them that she's scared.

"She's scared," Mr Hughes words cut through my thoughts like a knife. I hadn't noticed that he was looking at her. Damien also turned to look at Sharlene and sighed deeply, his face one of disappointment, "She is..."

"Perhaps I chose the wrong person for this job." He said again, "I'll just have to do it myself since I'm clearly more capable."

No, no please don't take me out of this case.

I was just about to beg when Mr Hughes spoke again, this time he was looking in my direction. "Remove the scared one but keep the other one, she seems to be capable."

Yes!

"It's okay, I'll just take over." Damien replied, crushing my dreams.

Mr Hughes still stared at me. It was like he was looking into my soul and those glasses didn't make anything better.

"No, let us give this girl a chance. If she fails, she is out. Tell me, what is your name?" He asked me.

"Akielia, sir. Akielia Rutherford." I said proudly.

"Well then, Akielia Rutherford, you are now the scientist in charge of researching and taking care of subject MM2077."