Chapter 05: Subject Nine

"Very good," Powel congratulated. "After all the trouble she'd given you, I didn't think you would've been able to capture her so easily. She already killed a number of your troops."

"She's only a threat in daylight," Clayton replied. "Our mistake was in not choosing the proper time for our attack. Is the containment suit ready?"

"Nearly," Powel answered. "We only started working on it when we discovered what she could do. It's been difficult creating a defense against her particular power, but I have no doubt we'll succeed. Until then, keep her sedated."

"Yes sir," Clayton acknowledged. He followed the men carrying subject nine toward the elevator going down to the prison block.

I trailed along after them. If the woman had power enough to destroy entire squads of military trained soldiers, she could prove a useful ally or a most dangerous foe. In either case, I needed to know the prisoner better. I kept a close watch on the group all the way down to her cell.

The metal door squeaked loudly as the long unused door opened on dry hinges. The soldiers placed subject nine on a table of bare steel, securing her wrists and ankles in leather straps similar to those used by mental institutions for controlling violent patients.

A transparent bag of fluid was hung from a hook near the head of the table, and a needle, linked to the bag with a slender tube, was inserted into the back of the woman's right hand. Satisfied she presented no threat, the soldiers left, the metal door clanking loudly as it closed and locked.

I phased through the wall and stood over the woman, examining her current state. The blaze orange jumpsuit she wore, resembling a prisoner's uniform, had sustained multiple cuts. The left pants leg was absent below the knee, and the right sleeve had been roughly torn off at the shoulder. The missing material revealed pale skin over the lean muscles of a well trained athlete. The cuts across her hands and on the uniform showed dried blood, telling of her flight through the tangled jungle of the island.

Even unconscious, I was impressed by her. The woman had determination and a fighting spirit. She'd apparently run when needed, and fought when necessary.

I brushed back the radiant white hair obscuring her face for a better look. The woman's upper lip was thinner than the lower one, and her cheekbones were hardly noticeable, giving her face only the slightest, most graceful, of curves from her eyes down to her chin.

Reaching for the IV needle, I hesitated as I considered the possible dangers of waking her up. Knowing the fight she'd given out rather than being captured, she wanted to get away as much as I did, but there was no way to know if she'd accept my help.

I unfastened her bindings, not wanting her to damage them in another escape attempt before I could speak with her. Any damage done to the restraints or the room would alert the guards of someone having woken her. I needed to keep my foes oblivious to my activities until I decided.

Instead of simply trusting her blindly, I removed the IV and quickly stepped to the wall, ready to make a hasty exit should the situation call for it.

I noticed a strange glow from her skin as she drew closer to consciousness. A soft silvery light came from within her, similar to a fog illuminated by moonlight. By the time she opened her eyes, the room was filled with her soft glow.

"Hello," I said gently, not wanting to startle her.

She jumped up, fists raised in a fighting position. Her green eyes went wide with surprise when she saw me standing in the corner of her cell. Considering she'd probably never seen a living shadow such as myself, she recovered very quickly.

"What are you?" she asked.

"One of the test subjects here," I explained.

"That voice," she said slowly, lowering her fists. "Were you one of the guards stationed here?"

"I believe so, but I have no memory after waking on this island," I told her. "Why do you ask?"

"When I was kidnapped from my home and brought here for experimentation," she explained quickly, "a soldier here was nice to me. After seeing what they were doing to me and others, he tried to stop it, killing several of the guards and helping me escape. I think you're him; you certainly have his voice."

"During my time on this island, I ran into a soldier who recognized me, and he called me a murderer," I said, waiting for her reaction.

She'd been taking slow and careful steps in my direction, but her progress instantly stopped when I dropped the word murderer. Her green eyes grew slightly larger, but she didn't retreat from me.

"If you killed your own team to free me, a stranger, it could have gotten you the label," she suggested.

I said nothing, thinking it over.

"What did you look like before?" she questioned.

"This," I answered, focusing on bringing about the change. My physical being became solid again.

"It is you!" she shrieked in delight, jumping toward me and throwing her arms around my neck.

Her embrace had been unexpected, and it disrupted my concentration. I slipped back into my ethereal state. Having thrown herself against me, she abruptly lost her balance when my physical substance vanished. She hit the wall behind me but quickly regained her balance. I stepped aside before turning solid again.

"Sorry," I apologized. "Changing from one form to another takes mental discipline, and you surprised me."

She smiled beautifully, her eyes sparkling. "Can I try again?"

Making sure my concentration would hold, I nodded. She approached slowly the second time; her height was five inches less than mine, letting her rest her head on my shoulder and neck without having to lean over. Her arms tentatively wrapped around my ribs and back.

After being a medical experiment, running for my life, getting cut up in a knife fight, and spending the night alone in a cave with the possibility of being a murderer, her welcoming embrace felt spectacularly good. Her warmth removed the chill I'd received after my swim and spending a night in a cave. I noticed the softness of her body pressing against mine was tempered by the firmness of her underlying muscle tone. I also noticed how my attentions toward her were distracting me from my focus; my left arm had turned ghostly, and my right was beginning to lose substance as well. Forcing myself to ignore her, I concentrated on remaining solid, and my physical structure became whole again.

"I'm glad you survived," she whispered, a joyful tear racing away from her left eye.

"How do you kill a wraith?" I asked in jest. It suddenly occurred to me the pain from my injuries had gone. I gently moved her arm away from my ribs. "Excuse me."

She stepped away slightly, and it allowed me to open my jacket and check the wound. There was no bleeding, and the skin had completely healed, not even a scar had been left behind.

"Something wrong?" she inquired.

"Not wrong, just weird," I replied. "During a fight yesterday, I took a knife hit to my ribs. I patched it up, but now, it's gone."

Her delicate touch gently slid across my skin as she examined the place herself. I did my best to ignore her fingers exploring the bare skin of my ribs, but I was failing miserably. Keeping my entire shape whole was increasingly difficult as I became more and more distracted by her.

"I don't see or feel anything," she stated. When she removed her hand, I released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. "Is it possible your turning ghost has something to do with it?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to keep up the facade of being in complete control.

"When you change, your physical body no longer exists, so when you come back, it could be reset to your usual status."

"A fascinating possibility," I admitted. Concentrating on the task at hand helped me focus on something other than her close proximity, so I centered my thoughts on our current objectives. "In any event, we need to get off this island, and we can start by getting out of here."

"When and how do we leave?" she asked eagerly.

"They're building a containment suit to neutralize your threat potential to them," I explained. "They're nearly finished, so they'll be back when it's ready. If you're gone, a search of the island will commence. However, if we let them put you in it, they'll think you out of commission, and won't bother coming to check on you. We could escape then, and they wouldn't realize it for some time, giving us longer to get off the island unopposed."

Her objection to willingly letting the enemy put her in a containment suit clearly registered on her face, but to her credit, she held back until I'd finished.

"How will you get me out of the suit after they put me in it?" she questioned.

I relaxed and turned immaterial before pulling out the lighter from my pocket and opening it. A flick of my thumb ignited the small flame.

"I can turn things ethereal if I'm touching, wearing, or concentrating on them," I explained. I snapped the lighter closed and returned it to my pocket. "When the time comes, I can walk you straight through the wall."

She paused while considering her options. I could see the muscles in her neck and jaw tighten, and it let me know how much she didn't want to be locked away. Finally, her green eyes looked toward me.

"I trust you," she said softly.

Returning to corporeal form, I took her hands gently in mine.

"Don't worry," I told her. "I won't leave you here."

Shifting my hands to her slender waist, I lifted her back onto the table. I fastened the leather restraints around her wrists and ankles, noticing the tightening of her muscles as she bristled against the confinement.

"It's alright," I whispered in her ear, holding her hand in what I hoped was a reassuring manner. I picked up the IV needle last. "Are you ready?"

She nodded shakily and closed her eyes. Placing the needle carefully against her skin, I attempted to put it back in as close to the original location as possible. Her breathing became slower and deeper, and the pale silver glow from her skin faded as she drifted off to sleep.

The elevator doors at the end of the hallway opened, and guards in heavy boots began marching toward the cell. I dived for the wall, turning immaterial, and passing through it an instant before the cell door swung open. Twisting around, I turned toward the facility as my momentum continued to carry me away. I spread my arms and increased the drag to slow my velocity to a stop. Pulling my knife, I walked quickly back to the cell. If anyone so much as looked like they were suspicious or intended harm to her, I'd kill them before they even knew they had an intruder.

Clayton stood watch as two soldiers prepared to seal her away in the bulky containment suit.

"Don't bother with that," Clayton instructed when one of his men started to remove the blaze orange jumpsuit subject nine wore. "It doesn't matter, just put her in the way she is now."

The soldier nodded and began taking the sections of the suit and pulling them on over her tattered clothes. Her arm with the IV was the last as they clearly didn't wish to disturb the sedative until the last possible moment.

After each part of the suit was secured and locked into the nearby connecting pieces, the leather restraints were put back in place. Even with the suit holding her powers in check, the guards were extreme in their precautions. I could understand their fear since many soldiers who'd gotten close to her had ended up dead.

The containment suit made her look like an astronaut. Coppery bronze in color, the slightly baggy outfit covered her from the neck down in a thick sheath of a plastic looking material. Her head was encased in a space age helmet with only a narrow visor covering her eyes and a few holes in front of her mouth for the purpose of ventilation.

Their work almost completed, the guards removed her IV and quickly put her hand into the specially designed glove, twisting it to engage the locking mechanism at the wrist. They departed from the room in haste, and I smiled when I realized they still weren't entirely certain the suit would hold her.

I watched them depart down the corridor, but I didn't reenter her cell until they boarded the elevator and began their journey to the main facility; I didn't wish to lose my ability of watching their movements through the wall, and they might've suddenly changed direction. The longer they didn't know of my presence or abilities, the longer I'd have the advantage. Satisfied we'd be undisturbed for a sufficient time, I passed through the wall and undid the bindings on her wrists and ankles again.

The containment suit did its job as she regained consciousness, and the silvery glow from her skin didn't appear this time when she awoke. I kept a hand firmly on her shoulder, keeping her from moving too quickly as she revived. Her eyes fluttered opened.

"It's alright," I reassured her. She nodded her understanding, and I could feel her relax even through the thick material over her shoulder. I took her hands and brought her into a sitting position. As she sat up, I noticed small color tabs along the locking mechanisms for the suit.

"What is it?" she asked when noticing my stare.

"See these?" I questioned, holding up her arm for her inspection of the lock on her wrist. I tapped the color tabs. "It's a combination lock. I don't know the code."

"Does that mean you can't get me out?" she asked. I could hear the panic building in her voice.

"No," I denied. "It simply means we won't be able to remove it a piece at a time. It has to be all at once. Stay calm and still, I need to focus."

I could see the questions she wanted to ask in her eyes, but I couldn't address them now. I'd never tried phasing matter in layers before, and I didn't know if it might pose a threat to her. I'd rematerialized inside solid rock, but I had no idea what the effects might be if the suit solidified part way through her. Another horrifying possibility, if I didn't judge the depth properly, I might accidentally remove some of her internal organs.

Thinking about such things only succeeded in distracting my focus from the job at hand. Shoving the terrible possibilities aside was no small accomplishment, but I managed it. Concentrating firmly on the transformation, I began my task.