Prologue

She sat cross legged on the stone floor staring at the far wall with the same cold detached expression she had worn since she had been taken out of the lab. The man behind the large one way glass window to her right shuddered at her expression.

He shifted from one foot to the other than froze when she cocked her head towards his window, her movements sharp and inhuman. For a child of only twelve years, she wore an expression he rarely saw even on adults. Two years ago when he had last seen her, she had kept insisting she saw her mother at night. She had looked small and sad.

When he mentioned her mother now she raised one eyebrow mockingly and replied, "how would I be able to see her, she is dead"

He felt an unfamiliar sadness thinking of the transformation she'd undergone in the two years. Not just physically, but mentally to. From the cute, scared little girl talking about her recently deceased mother to this harsh bitter twelve year old that looked at him scornfully whenever he mentioned her mothers' name. Though her bitter, mocking personality was disturbing it was nothing compared to how her appearance had changed. At eight years old she had had big brown eyes and skin the color of coffee with cream. Her hair had been thick, brown and fuzzy. When she smiled or pursed her lips, a dimple appeared on her right cheek.

Looking at her now he felt anger towards the scientists who had done this too her.

Her skin was still the color of coffee, but that was the only thing that resembled her former self. Her skin was flawless, smooth and unmarred by the usual scars that resulted from so many surgeries. Her face seemed sharper; her cheek bones had been carved into a defining shape that highlighted her jaw line. Her lips were full, the bottom more so then the top. Her eyebrows swept gracefully over her eyes, perfectly shaped and just as angular as the rest of her face. The structure of her face didn't seem to fit the color of her skin. Her hair was darker then it used to be, the color of dark chocolate. It was beautiful; the kind of hair women spent thousands of dollars to get, waving gracefully down past the middle of her back.

But the most shocking thing, even if he hadn't known what she had looked like before, was her eyes. They were narrow and slanted at just the right angle beneath her dark eyebrows. They were fringed with impossibly thick eyelashes.

She looked up and, even though he had seen them before, he still felt a shock run up his spine. They were green. Not a normal hazel green, but a vibrant green that didn't exist on any other creature. In fact he was pretty sure it didn't exist at all. It was brighter then any green he had ever seen. They were reflective, yet at the same time they seemed to pull light in, so that it sank into her eyes, making them look deep, bottomless.

Those bright green eyes could never belong to a normal creature.

Her arms were lean and muscular, artificially reinforced, as was the rest of her body. One could say that she was the perfect specimen, one that could never occur naturally. And there was a reason for that; such creatures would have destroyed the food chain which, up until now, humans had dominated. The implications what these GE scientist were creating…one could see it just by observing her.

Everything about her screamed predator; when she stood to pace the room it was a fluid, and somehow deadly, looking movement. When she turned back towards the one way mirrored window he stood behind and smiled she revealed white teeth that gleamed strangley, unnervinginly. The K9's seemed just a little too long, the rest of her teeth just a little too dangerous to be a normal set of teeth. Surprised, scared, he stumbled away from the window. Her smiled widened as though she could hear him stumble. Which he would have believed impossible since the cell she stood in was completely sound proofed.

'But than again,' he thought to himself, 'I would not have believed this was the same person had I not seen the numbers…'

In the room, the girl stood still, staring towards the human that stood behind the mirrored glass. She knew she had frightened the human behind the glass, but couldn't bring herself to regret the fact. Even though this human had done her no harm, she still resented him for the mere fact that he was human and she was not. She knew how terrifying she looked to this human, not only because she saw her own reflection and it scared her to, but also because she could taste his fear, even through the glass.

She wished desperately that the scientists could remove their most recent "gift", but she wasn't about to admit to having it. At this point they were all convinced that their most recent operation hadn't resulted in anything worth while, and she was planning to keep it that way. Though she regretted having the burden of having to "taste" peoples fear and hatred, which was always, it seemed, directed at her, she felt no sadness or regret at the idea of bearing it for the rest of her life if it meant she could escape this place. If only she could escape into the real world, where she could at least fight back. It would be a relief if she wouldn't have to put on this mask of cruel indifference anymore, when really she felt like curling up in a corner and crying. The fact that she could not cry openly at the mention of her lost mother inspired enough anger within her that it made acting indifferent towards all the terrible things she had seen almost bearable.

Almost.

Presently, she decided to take pity on the poor man behind the glass and turned her attention towards the door behind which the security guard was feeling bored; a thick dull taste that made it hard to swallow, and hungry; sharp sour taste that she found very distracting.

Suddenly, from behind the glass window where the frightened human stood she felt, and heard, someone else enter the room. She didn't look away from the door, but she cocked her head sharply towards the window.

A voice spoke, "I'm glad you've taken such an interest in GEH#917, but I'm afraid I'm not interested in selling"

The person, the man who had just entered the room, spoke in a business-like manner. The way he rattled out that line made it sound as though he had repeated it frequently.

'Of course there would be plenty of corporations and government funded institutions that would find all this rather fascinating' she thought bitterly.

"She's an important project, and I don't think I'm through with her. I'm sure you understand" He paused then added as though he was waiting for a response then continued when none came.

"GEHRU has already tried to take her. She is dangerous. And unique. She is the only female to have ever survived such extensive reconstructive surgery. But they don't understand how important she is. She has the potential to be one of the most powerful of her kind. Not the strongest. But the most dangerous. The way her brain…detects emotions. It's quiet unique. So far she's the only one who has responded to the regiment"

A jolt of realization ran through the girl, not unlike a punch to the stomach. She felt as though all the air in her lung escaped in a quiet gasp as she tried to remain as still as possible. This man, he was her creator. He had made her the way she was. As he spoke his voice had taken on a reverent tone. The fervor she was detecting was probably beyond the scope of what the other human in the room could perceive, but she could feel it resonate with in her.

It hit her like a ton of bricks. The taste was more then just a taste. It dried her mouth and squeezed her chest. It intensified as he continued.

"She" he breathed, "is what I've been looking for. Granted I did think it would be a male. But she survived all the operations. Even the most recent one on her brain. We just tweaked a bit here and there, but it was a crucial step. The analysts examined her afterwards, asked her questions. She said she couldn't feel anything different in her head. No voices"

She could hear the disappointment in his voice as he said this, though her head was beginning to cloud from the suffocating feeling that gripped her chest.

"But" he continued, determination coloring his tone, "she's been lying a lot lately. She'll slip eventually I'm sure. Kids am I right?" He chuckled to himself.

" And so" he said, "I'm afraid I can't sell her. As much as she's worth, I can't sell her quiet yet until we have this kind of success with a male. Besides, she's not constructed in that way. I'm afraid you'll have to find some other female GE. I hear they have some very beautiful young girls for sale in-"

"I have no intention of owning her" came the angry reply from the man. She hadn't noticed his growing disgust as her creator had babbled on about her. It was the kind of taste that stung the back of her throat and nose. She knew very well what purpose most female GE's served and was relieved by the fact that most human males would find her more terrifying then appealing.

"What has been done here" The man continued, his anger searing her mouth, "is cruel and inhumane treatment-"

"She isn't human" her engineer answered in an impatient tone, as if he had discussed this before, "Human rights do not apply to her or any other of her kind. Besides, my operations are-"

"She has rights as a GE, an altered human. She may not be human, she had a human mother. I'm sure you've heard about the law we've been trying to pass? well this morning—"

"Who's we?" her engineer demanded, suddenly suspicious.

"I work for GEHRU, I guess your pet GE failed to mention that. The genetic engineering that has been performed on this child goes far beyond anything I've ever seen. You had better get a good lawyer you sick bastard. Even for a Cutter this is bad. We're charging you with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, intent to do bodily harm-"

"No! No! don't you see?! I've created something beautiful, something better!" Her creator snarled, "and you can't take her away. You people don't understand my work—"

"Right, your work. Now, am I to understand that you have attempted to perform these same operations on several other patients? Human patients? It's bad enough to do this to a GE, but a human? And they all died as a result? Did you even stop to think how that might affect their families? Or how these kinds of experiments might affect the world? The future of the human race could be in danger here. Even if we weren't charging you with what you've done to this child, you would still be going away for a long time for what you did to the others"

"Those charges were dropped" He spat. She heard his feet shuffle as he backed away. "I know what this means for the human race. She is the future of the human race!"

As he spoke, the crushing sensation returned in full force.

"I can't stop now! Just imagine how great our country would be, the power, if we were all like her. We would rule over the lesser race, the humans" He spat the last word with a hatred that seemed to burn deep in her chest.

"You are human" the man replied, "why would you want that?! Why would you want these things to be ruling us?!"

Her creator didn't answer but continued to rant

"-what it would mean, having the single most dangerous weapon, all we would need is to be able to get her into the same room as our enemies! when I succeed, I'll be able to make more!" he laughed, sounding more then a little hysterical, panic mixing in with the unknown emotion that was crushing her.

'What emotion is this? It's going to kill me! this is too much, something is wrong' she thought, feeling his panic turning to her own.

'I can't breathe!'

Her head was clouding. She leaned against the wall to the left of the mirror window, gasping for breath.

"We have legal custody of her, and it's our right to take out a restraining order, which we fully intend to do. It won't take long for a judge to-"

"You can't keep me away from her! she's mine! I made her! you-"

"In the mean while" the man continued, his voice getting louder "you have the right to remain silent" the doors opened and the girl in the room heard more footsteps, though by then she was only half conscious, "if you give up this right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can't afford one…"

The sounds stopped making sense for a moment as she blacked out. She drifted back to wakefulness, but it was still there, making it hard to breathe. The invisible force still weighed on her chest.

"-You're a danger to her. You, are obsessed with her" she heard the man saying, though he sounded far away.

'Obsession' she thought, a thrill of fear running through her, 'how can an emotion be so powerful?!"

"Is there anyway to remove that serial number, or the bar code?" she vaguely heard the man ask.

Her creator didn't answer. Instead he continued to rant about her, his greatest project, the future, the weapon.

'He'll never forget me' she thought, fear building in her 'He will never let me go. He'll take me back one day'

She knew she was right. She was his, she belonged to him. Like he had said, he had made her into the thing she was now, almost human but not quiet. And he was going to get her back, he was going to complete his masterpiece. She felt the sensation begin to fade as he was dragged from the room. She could almost breathe.

Almost.

She knew she would never breathe the same again. The weight remained, like a reminder that he would finish the work he had started. Freedom, for her, would always feel temporary, even if he never actually took her back. She would always have this phantom pain in her chest.

And for that she hated him with a passion.