The X-Project

Sarah is taken to the Genegineer's lab, and discovers who the mystery man is.



The Magistrates held the heavily restrained Sarah between them, holding her by her arms as her legs dragged on the floor. They passed through checkpoints on the way into the private labs of the Genegineer. Little was known about him, and his environment was quietly sterile and stark; more of a quiet research lab than the house of horrors they expected. Commander Braddock led the march, and as they passed through the final checkpoint, the door was open and led into an anti-chamber. Sarah was secured on a table, her restraints affixed to the already waiting connections. Betsy waved off the other Magistrates; her orders were to transfer the subject to the Genegineer alone.

After a long moment, the man walked through the door, still wearing his containment suit. There was a pause as he de-attached some toggles on his neck, and finally lifted the helmet off of the suit. As he pulled off the mask, the features of Nathaniel Essex came into focus, looking as he always did; calm and collected.

“Ah, the esteemed Commander Braddock. I see you have brought a new subject for the mutate process. Sarah Morlocke, if I’m not mistaken.”

"Come on." Commander Braddock dragged Sarah to Essex for inspection. "If I may, sir? I do not like the idea of you in the lab with this one. There should be at least a dozen men guarding over her at all times. Powers or not, she's resourceful and dangerous."

"All very true, Commander. More than you might know. But in this case, I don't think that Miss Morlocke is likely to try and harm me. After all, she won't get the answers that she wants if she does, and more important, I doubt those are her orders. But do restrain her to that table over there, will you?" Essex indicated one of the operating tables that was partially propped up.

Sarah struggled only minimally as she was led to the table. Fighting would only lead to Betsy breaking her in two without a second thought, and the thought seemed unpleasant without her healing factor. She growled low, eyes fixed on Essex. "I am so tired of people I trusted turning on me. You are the third this week."

"I promise you, I'll be happy to answer any questions momentarily. Once I've finished with Commander Braddock." Essex said, walking over and looking into her eyes. "You see, Commander, part of the mutate process involves artificially suppressing parts of the brain so that the hypnotic conditioning cannot be over ridden. Properly done, even the most skilled telepath cannot revive the original personality because it has been physically and chemically rendered inert. Properly done, that is. Have you been having headaches? Perhaps images repeating in your dreams or your idle thoughts?"

Commander Braddock secured Sarah to the table only to turn and realize Essex was talking to her. She hesitated. After a beat, Braddock spoke. "I don't see how my health plays into the matter at hand." She looked up into his searching gaze and smiled. "But if you want to play doctor, Doctor. You need only ask."

"A tempting offer, Commander. But I'm afraid what interests me most is your mind." Essex clasped his hands behind his back easily, and watched her. "Which I'd image is starting to feel foggy, harder to think, is it not?" He said, as her confident look started to slide and waver, eyes unfocusing.

She took a few steps back, then stumbled. Bracing herself against a table, Commander Braddock stared up at Essex. "What have you done?"

"Begun to restore some things which I needed broken initially. Don't be alarmed, Commander. You will be quite safe. You will just simply slip into sleep, and things will seem right again." He smiled.

Sarah's expression went from one of annoyance, to one of unease almost instantaneously. Betrayal or not, Betsy was a good friend when she wasn't under this mind control shit Essex had been going on about. She struggled against the bonds, but they held her tight to the table. "What the fuck are you doing to her?"

"Broken?" Braddock looked down at her wrist, the faint blood outline of a diamond on her shirt stood out like a warning. "Sleep." She had a moment to register the concern on the young woman's face before collapsing.

"Reversing the conditioning that was done on Miss Braddock, Miss Morlocke. You may not believe me, but I have no agenda against you or Betsy. In fact, both of your survival is vitally important to my own plans." He said, coming over to examine her wounds. "We should do the same for you. You will need your healing factor sooner than later to deal with the damage."

"Do it," Sarah growled from the table, "but be careful. I will not make the mistake of trusting you again."

"My dear, you should know by now that trust isn't a concern of mine. You know what I am capable of doing, what I have done, and more importantly, what I haven't done with the opportunities presented. I would like to think that you will rather decide what my motivations are, as opposed to blind trust or distrust in any situation." He said, moving over with a device that he began to arrange around her. "You should feel few side effects. Maybe a moment of discomfort as your powers return."

There was a moment where she felt nothing, but could see her bruises slowly begin to fade. After that blessed split second where her healing factor came back, her bones came back too. The skin on her knuckles split to make way for bone armour along her fingers, and lumps formed along her body where clubs and knives were forming. It would only be a matter of time till they broke through skin and that, she knew, would hurt.

'A moment of discomfort' was the understatement of the year.