Three years passed inside the facility.
Three years since Jasen had woken up beneath blinding lights and restraints. Three years since the designation Subject 13 had replaced his name in every way. Time moved forward strangely here, measured not in seasons or skies, but in routines, his growth, and the changes in faces.
Some scientists started showing sighs of gray hair, while others disappeared quietly. New scientist arrived with new bright eyes, and questions. Jasen didn't know if it some left from the stress or morality of this place. It could have also been some died because they grew a conscious. He didn't know for sure, but a few things were made clear.
Jasen was the only official subject as far as he knew in the facility. He did hear supposed rumors and whispers of a Subject 12. But nothing more than that. Jasen learned not to ask and took the salarian, Dr. Vorath's Advice to heart. He will watch and listen, over time they will let down their guard and slip up.
Jasen was seven now, and was a little taller at 132cm or 52 inches. Which is the taller end for a child. But he was not a child in any way that mattered, his mind and experiences.
The once man now a boy who once only knew the Mass Effect universe through games and books was gone. In his place was someone shaped by pressure, repetition, and survival. Every day sharpened him. Every week peeled away another layer of innocence he hadn't even realized he still possessed.
His life followed a strict rhythm. Dr. Veronica Kline remained constant through it all. She was still cold rigid bitch to him. Still terrifyingly precise and composed in everything she did.
Her days with him were filled with the same examinations, physical tests, neural scans, biotic test's, but over time, something else had been added. A sort of education or maybe the rigid bitch was growing a heart. Jasen couldn't tell, but it was a good distraction.
She began to teach him chess. Jasen was already familiar with it, and made sure to hold back to act like he was learning it again. Jasen noticed every lesson she taught was a form of test. Every move was a question to see how he would respond.
"You don't just play to play to win subject 13," she told him once, staring down at the board. "You play to control outcomes. Sometimes you must sacrifice to learn how your opponent will move and react. By doing this you can safe your more important pieces for the finisher, and minimize losses."
She also began to teach him history and philosophy. Greek mythology and philosophers was her inspiration. Jasen was also familiar with the mythology from his past life. He loved the stories and how they translate into real life.
"A monarchy rots when its rulers and ruling class confuses their authority with divinity," Kline said calmly as she captured his bishop. "Corrupt kings. Bastard children. Dynasties that cannibalize themselves while the people suffer. Remember that."
She would also teach him about the Greek philosopher's. Socrates. Plato. Aristotle. The great old minds.
She questioned him relentlessly while they played. Not surface-level answers, she was probing for reasoning to his thoughts. To see how he would structure his arguments. And to see how far his foresight reaches. She dissected his thoughts the way a researcher dissects a corpse.
Every match they had, he would lose. Every single time he felt close to winning, Kline would snatch victory from him. But what he didn't know, was Kline noticing how quickly Subject 13 was improving.
Jasen mind noticed small things. A fractional pause when he surprised her with an unexpected line of reasoning. A faint tightening of her fingers when he adapted faster than expected. She never praised him. Never smiled.
But she kept instructing and teaching him. And that meant something. Maybe she was trying to influence his mind for something in the future. But she still remained cold and indifferent to him.
While Matriarch Yelara remained the pillar of his biotic growth and mental health as well. She was always reserved, controlled and unyielding...but fair in her treatment of Jasen.
Under her guidance, Jasen's biotics evolved in their raw precision. He learned to levitate with ease during his meditations. Purple eezo radiated around him like a second skin as he hovered, cross-legged, breathing evenly, singularity the size of a baseball.
Yelara was amazed with Subject 13's progress. His control was improving greatly and his mind absorb her knowledge and teachings like a sponge. He would even begin to communicate with her in High Thessian. His understanding and speaking on the language was as good as a native speaker.
Yelara felt a small tinge of warmth fill her heart. The more and more she saw Subject 13 the more and more she began to care for him. She made it a point to hide these feelings and keep a consistent treatment of him. But she always praised 13 when he met if not exceeded her expectations.
The Asari commando's Ela and Sula were constant shadows during these sessions. They never stopped testing him and made sure her stayed alert. A order given to them from the Matriarch. The two took a liking and 13 after sometime. Ela more then Sula.
Jasen was using his past life experiences in the military to help him stay on top of things. He was amazed with what his new mind and body could do. Sometimes noticing a subtle change in footstep rhythm, a breath held too long behind him. Other times it was abrupt...feints, sudden movements, simulated ambushes.
Jasen learned to feel the air itself. From the pressure shift when someone moved too close. The microscopic change in sound when a presence altered the space behind him.
His spatial awareness sharpened until it bordered on instinctual. At one point he felt like he saw the kinetic energy from behind a wall where Sula was trying to ambush him. It was like the energy she made as she was moving, from behind the wall. And his ears even picked up the microsounds she was making.
That was a secret he kept to himself.
Ela, in particular, took a special interest in his mental state. "Your mind never stops, does it?" she said once, crouched behind him as he meditated. Her voice was soft, silky and captivating. "You think too much, here let me help you 13."
She placed a hand on his back, and slowly, gently started caressing it with her finger tips. "Listen to my voice," she murmured. "Let it guide you. Let it slow you down. Not to stop you, but help you to focus."
Her touch was warm and comforting. It sent electricity shooting through his body. Not a painful sensation but a rush of energy, and Jasen obeyed instinctively. And then suddenly something… shifted in him.
His amber eyes turned completely black, and the world around him blurred. The meditation deepened too fast, into something more. Visions bled into his mind. His awareness shifted.
There were children like him. All in the same clothes and the same room he was currently in. Some had lifeless eyes, or were crying in pain. Dr. Kline stood there with her usual indifferent analytical gaze. Even when some of the children collapsed to the floor, and were seizing with blood coming out of their eyes, nose, and mouth.
She stood there like it was nothing. But she wasn't alone. Matriarch Yelara, Warmaster Korgath, and Dr Vorath were there watching as well. Jasen could feel what they felt. Not sadness but disappointment. Like they were disappointed in another failure.
Then the image of the red hair girl appeared again, but she had a smile this time. There were no other facial features, but it was clear that she was happy. Captain Stone was there to, his feeling was more of relief. But Jasen didn't know why or how he could sense what they were feeling and what these visions were.
Then the vision's shifted again. This time to Ela, but not as she was now.
She stood in a wide room with a red light shining on her naked body. She was surrounded by piles of bodies. Asari women. Other species. Turians, Krogan, Salarians, Drell, Batarians, and even some humans. They were all lifeless, eyes broken, bodies discarded. Her skin glistened, and her smile was wide, ecstatic, and devilish. Like she was filled with euphoria, as she caressed and touched herself shamelessly amidst the carnage, her purple eyes glowing with hunger and pleasure intertwined.
Jasen felt it. The hunger, the lust, and the itch to hunt. All of it coming from her. Then the vision shattered, and Jasen gasped as he returned to the now.
Ela's face was inches from his, concern painted perfectly across her features. "Hey, Hey" she said softly. Her hands holding his face. "You spaced out. Are you okay?"
Her purple eyes stared deep into his amber ones. Her sent and touch was tantalizing. Then he noticed it. The micro moments in her face from practice smiling and the feint smell of death on her.
For the first time… fear stirred in him. He wasn't in the sight of a friend, but a true predator. "I...yeah," he said carefully. "Guess I got lost in my head. And your voice helped to center me." Ela smiled softly, bright and innocent. "That happens. I'm glad my voice helped."
Jasen nodded, but internally, his instincts screamed. She's dangerous, and to never be left alone with her again. He didn't know what she was. Or why those vision's had come. But he knew...deeply, and undeniably....that Ela was not what she pretended to be. And this facility is beyond dangerous and inhumane.
Jasen had hoped desperately and deep down, that he was wrong. But he knew he wasn't. Sula was in the observation room looking at the two. Her eyes narrowed on Ela as her hand clenched into a fist.
Later that night, Sula waited until Ela returned to their private quarters. The moment the door sealed shut, Sula slammed her sister against the wall, forearm pressed hard against her throat. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" Sula hissed. "Are you trying to out yourself here? Of all places?"
Ela only smiled, unfazed. "I don't know what you mean, sister. I was helping 13 with his mental training. That's all."
"This is Earth," Sula growled. "A government-backed facility. If they find out what you are, they'll put you on a table and cut you open. And the Matriarch won't lift a finger to stop it."
Ela's smile never wavered. "You're hurting me," she said sweetly. "Can you let me go please?"
Sula's eyes narrowed. As she slowly released her. "Remember this," Sula said coldly. "We can't keep burying bodies. Especially not here. Keep your damn urges in check. Sister or not, or will put you down like I should have done last time."
She then turned and left the room. As the door hissed closed. Ela remained still in the silence of the dark room. Then her expression changed.
The bright bubbly smile twisted into something hungry. Her eyes darkened with lust and anticipation. She licked her lips slowly, biting down as if savoring a thought.
"Oh, Thirteen…" she whispered to the empty room. "I wonder how you'll taste."
She laughed softly. "Or maybe," she purred, "you'll survive long enough to keep up with me." Her smile widened, to that of a predator.
She then began to take off her armor ,and began to pleasure herself. "Just a little longer and you will be mine 13, I hope you will survive, unlike the others.... No I know you definitely will, your different."