Subject Seventeen: Wraith Among Shadows

I’m roused from my sleep by the alarm. It goes on for a minute or two, forcing me to get up. Morning already.

I quickly run out of my room and head down the hallway, following Seven and One who’ve just run out of their rooms also. It takes about ten minutes to get to the armoury. Three and the boys are already gearing up. She’s got her usual katana strapped to her waist on the left, a pistol holstered on the right. The black leather pants she wears make it easy to see how long her legs are as she straps on her boots.

“Hurry up!” she half yells at us. We immediately dash to our lockers and take out our stealth gear. As soon as I suit up I slowly choose which weapons to take. I have a choice between the type 64 silenced pistol and the dual-wielding akimbo. I holster the 64 and attach my belt equipped with nine small throwing knives. All have specially made strings for stretching and conducting electricity attached to their hilts.

After we’ve finished equipping our gear we head to the hangar for our briefing. We’re to travel by air apparently, only to parachute in. A group of a dozen or more soldiers holding semi-automatic rifles are already there being briefed by Sanders. It looks like they may be going directly to Moscow. Lucky them. Behind Sanders is the Doctor, Seventeen at his side.

Seventeen looks more life-like, but there’s still a hint of that soul-less puppet he was yesterday. He looks up as we enter, eyeing us. It’s almost as if he’s studying us. Then he does something I don’t expect. He waves at us, although his face is still blank. One; being the care-free girl she is, waves back. The rest ignore him and report to Sanders straight away.

“You’ll leave in five,” Sanders snaps, not exchanging greetings. “You’ve been given your instructions, so I expect you in and out of there within the hour.”

“Sir. Yes, sir!” We all shout in unison whilst saluting him. I can feel the cold air brushing against the nape of my neck. Three turns to meet the Doctor and Seventeen who are now walking towards us.

“He will follow your orders without any doubt, but be careful not to put too much stress on him,” the Doctor says to Three. “We don’t yet know how much his body can take, nor do we know what he will be like as a person. Personally I don’t want to use him now but the Director wants to test him out in a real mission.”

“I’ll be careful.” Three replies. She motions to Seventeen to follow and he does. His walk is almost graceful. He takes long strides without making even the slightest sound as he climbs the stairs to the aircraft. Three and I board the aircraft also.

I make sure to take a window seat. The flight will take about three hours so I’ll need a good view. The rest of the Shadows are spread out about the cabin. Nine is sitting on the other side, staring out the window. One and Ten are playing a card game near the front whilst Five and Seven sit next to each other talking in the middle. Three ventures off somewhere else; God knows where.

I’m just settling in as the plane takes off from the hangar when Seventeen sits down in the seat next to me. I shift uncomfortably but I don’t say anything for a while. However as much as I try not to, I can’t help but look.

He’s staring at One and Ten playing cards. He doesn’t seem to notice me looking. But now that I’m up close I notice the smoothness of his skin. I almost reach out and touch it. His paleness brings out his dark eyes even though they lack life. His dark hair is now smooth and brushed back on one side so I have a better look at his face. I stop myself from staring at his ever so tiny mole. It makes him look so much more handsome.

He turns to look at me before I have enough time to avert my gaze.

“Hi,” he says. This time I can see the corners of his mouth twitch up a little, as if he’s attempting to smile. His voice is clear, but not too deep. It gives off a distinct maturity to it. Oh, he must be a siren. It must be an ability of his. That’s the only explanation for the appeal I feel towards his voice.

“Hi,” I manage to say, hardly recognising my own voice. It sounds like a small squeak. The type of sound a hamster or a mouse would make. It takes me a little while to realise my cheeks are burning and my face has gone completely red. I try to hide my face behind my hair, only to remember I had tied it back into a ponytail this morning. I’m completely exposed.

“I’m Seventeen,” he says, extending his arm. My heart picks up the pace as his arm draws close to me. My goodness, what the hell is going on with me? I need to be anywhere but next to him right now. Anywhere!

“I’m Two.” It takes all the energy I have left to get that out. I look at his face again. He’s still not smiling – probably the effects or the borrachero – but I’m surprised. There seems to be some life in his eyes, almost as if happiness has strayed into a dark and lost place.

“Two.”

I turn to look in Nine’s direction. His eyes are fixed on me, peering from behind his glasses. I get up and half-sprint to him, glad to have an excuse to leave.

“What are you doing?” he questions me.

“Nothing!” I say back as earnestly as I can. A small smirk appears on his face as he whispers something into my ear.

“You have the hots for him don’t you?”

My face upgrades from red to bright pink. That’s not possible. It just isn’t. Seventeen is the guy who put Three in a state I’d never seen before. He’s the one I should hate. I can’t be attracted to him, it’s just impossible.

“No!” I exclaim. “No I don’t! Why would you say that?!”

“Because I’ve never seen you blush before. Ever.” His smirk has now turned into a full-on grin. He’s enjoying this. “Why not? You’re both around the same age.”

I’ve never known Nine to tease someone before, so he must be right. I mean, well he is always right. I sink into the chair next to him. This is bad. I’ve fallen for the enemy. Three might hate me. My goodness what will I do? Nine laughs.

“Don’t worry about it too much. Right now you need to focus. Listen to what I’m about to tell you carefully.”

The look on his face has changed to deadly serious. I sit up on full alert.

“Whilst I’m downloading the data from the server, you need to delay your arrival to the sub-level.”

“What?!” I whisper, confusion swirling around in my head.

“You can’t tell Three. In the lift I want you to use your lightning to slow down the lift; short-circuit it or something. A small discharge should be enough. Or just draw in some of the electricity around you to yourself. And also, find some other ways to distract Three if you can. I only need two minutes extra. Can you do this?”

Several thoughts are swirling around my head. If he’s hiding this from Three, it can only mean he’s doing something tantamount to treason. How can he ask me of all people to betray Three? And her father? Three is a stickler to schedule. If we’re even thirty seconds off-task she’ll notice. But the request is coming from Nine. He’s never once been wrong…

“Why?” I ask.

“I can’t tell you till it’s over. If I get caught, you’ll be able to deny any involvement.”

Oh. Plausible deniability. That’s his play. So he wants me to help him do goodness knows what which will probably get him charged with treason and killed by Sanders or Three. He expects me of all people to betray Three.

“Two,” he says. “You and Five are the only ones I can trust. I only ask for you to trust me now, when I most need it.”

He hits home. He knows I’m a sucker for his ‘trust’ speeches.

“Fine. But if you get caught it’s on you,” I say. Nine smiles and thanks me, but he has still managed to make me wonder exactly what it is that he’s up to.

“We’re moving now,” Three says, suddenly walking back into the cabin. We all jump up and move towards the door as Three hands us our parachutes. That chill I felt earlier creeps its way back up to my neck. I haven’t been this excited since we blew up Berlin.

Three slides the door open while a soldier stands next to her, simply waiting to close it after we leave.

“Just follow me for now. You have your orders, we all know what to do. Let’s go.” Three doesn’t even look as she lets herself fall backwards through the door, vanishing from view.

“Well,” Ten says. “This’ll be fun.” Ten jumps after Three. One by one everyone jumps until it’s just me and Seventeen. He jumps out, not bothering to look at me. I follow.

As soon as I exit the plane I feel the air whack me in the face. Wind rushes through my hair, throwing it from side to side. Sometimes a few loose brown strands fly across my eyes. I clench my teeth in an attempt to fight the sudden onrush of the wind. The sudden drop feels alien after not doing this in a while. Eventually I can make out Five and One below, and I release my chute to slow myself down.

It takes four minutes and twenty-one seconds to land, just as planned. I touch down softly in the middle of a clearing of trees. The rest are already waiting.

Three switches on her mic, and the rest of us follow suit.

“We’re grounded,” she says into the mic.

“Good,” Sanders says. “The satellite shows two guards heading in your direction. They may have seen your parachutes. It’s unfortunate but take them out. Do it quickly.”

Three looks at Seventeen. I know she’s not Fourteen, but it’s as if she can read all our minds. We want to see him in action.

“Seventeen, deal with them,” Three nods at him. Seventeen simply nods back. He takes a few steps back and stands still. It’s as if he’s waiting. A few seconds later we hear the voices of the soldiers who are approaching. They’re laughing over some sort of joke.

“I swear, I saw something,” the first one says, laughing. “It could’ve been a falling star!” His deep Russian accent is evident in his speech.

“Maybe it’s all those meds you’ve been on lately,” the other replies. This one has a German accent, but he speaks English fluently. “The other day you said you saw a rabbit flying through the trees.”

“It looked like a rabbit!”

“It was a bird… I seriously think you need to lay off the pills.”

The men eventually spot Seventeen; the rest of us have taken cover behind the trees.

“See?” The first guard says, aiming his gun at Seventeen. His face turns into a stern glare as he eyes Seventeen with caution. “Hands up!”

“But this is a person, not a star, idiot.” The second guard groans but also points his gun at Seventeen, telling him to put his hands in the air. Seventeen complies, but as he raises his hands both men drop to their knees clutching their throats, as if they’re struggling to breathe. Their eyes bulge as they attempt to cry out, but no sound comes. Seconds later they fall still.

“Damn,” Ten whistles. “That was cold. What’d you do to them?”

“I simply redirected the oxygen around them somewhere else so they couldn’t breathe,” Seventeen replies.

“Let’s move,” Nine says, him and Three already ahead of us.

We make our way through the trees, sweeping branches and leaves out of our faces as we run.

“Three, you’re up,” Sanders says through the mic. We all crowd round Three and place a hand on one of her shoulders. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before we’re all suddenly enveloped in a dark mist. When it clears we find ourselves inside a square room. The walls have pictures on them of different chemical formulas, none of which I can understand. Bright lights dangle from above, illuminating a series of long tables with various glass bottles and samples of unknown plants or liquids sitting in them.

I turn and see a woman in a black dress standing there, paralysed with fear or disbelief at our sudden appearance. She’s holding one of the samples in her hand, a clipboard in another. Behind her are a group of men all dressed smugly in their posh suits, some holding mugs of coffee. All of them are staring at us. Who wouldn’t? We did just appear in a heap of black mist.

Three is the one who moves first. Before anyone realises what’s happened, she’s already sped between half a dozen people, slitting their throats with her katana. The rest of the group of men open their mouths to scream, but Five has already started to manipulate the vibrations in the air so no sound comes out. Nine starts flinging people about the room with his telekinesis and Ten walks through them all grabs the women who I had initially laid eyes on.

One of the men who I had thought was dead starts to crawl on his belly towards one side of the room. I look in his direction and I see a red button; likely to be an alarm. I summon a burst of lightning from my arms and shoot it at him. His body convulses in agony and smoke rises up from him as he returns to being lifeless permanently now. I notice Seventeen staring at me and I turn away.

I look at One whose face shows how repulsed she is by the scene.

“Can we move on now?” Ten asks, still dragging the woman by her hair.

“Kill her,” Three says.

“No, I want to question her. Seems like we walked right into the middle of a tour, some of these guys look like important figures.”

“You’re right. They shouldn’t have been here today according to our intel. I’ll allow you, however you should be in position within five minutes, Ten.”

Three signals to the rest of us to follow. “Seven, take over.”

“Already done,” Seven replies. We exit the room and find ourselves in a small hallway only large enough to fit two people walking in opposite directions at a time. A few mirrors line the wooden walls and a grey carpet covers the entire floor. As we follow Three I catch a glimpse of ourselves in the mirror. Seven’s illusions are way too realistic. I now have the appearance of a thick balding man with grey hair lining the expanse of my chin. I’m wearing a navy blue suit with a striped tie which looks as if it’s trying to strangle me. Yuck.

After turning a few times and passing several people; none of whom looked at us twice, Sanders checks in with us again.

“Time to split. Alpha team, head to sub-level three. You’ve all memorised the layout so take route F-4. Bravo team follow Nine. You’ve got seven minutes to get that information from their server. Make it quick. Ten is already on his way to take out the security, but he can only buy so much time. Move. Now.”

I take a deep breath. It’s time to begin our mission.