Experiment Zero

3. Into the Lion Den

       I sit on one of the tables, watching Zero through the glass wall.

      He's asleep on the floor, a random scientist said he should wake up any second now.

       I refuse to call him Subject Zero. It makes him sound like a thing, not a person. It's bad enough that he's thought of as an Experiment, even if he does have deadly skin....yeah calling him Zero seems fine.

      The table has been cleared of equipment and a nurse keeps checking me over and over again, talking about how my heart should settle down in a minute and how I'm lucky he didn't break a rib or kill me, etc.

    My dad talks with the woman I saw him come down here with, who I figured out was Mrs. Clark, head of the mental research development. Basically, she'll be the one studying his brain and reactions, which kind of makes this sound like an asylum where they study a wacko. I know there's a person for physical research, but I haven't met them yet.

     Mrs. Clark and my dad make their way over, talking to the nurse, before dismissing her when they find out I'm not seriously injured, just a little bruised.

    Dad glares at me, his parenting side coming out in a wave of heat with a look that yells 'you're grounded!'. Mrs. Clark just studies me, and I study her right back.

     She has faded strawberry blonde hair, and sharp green eyes that absorb everything. Her pencil skirt and blouse make her look overly professional and I get the feeling she doesn't like me based on the way she turns her nose up when looking down at me, like I'm some bug that scurried over her shoe.

     "You're lucky to be alive." Mrs. Clark says in a cool tone, getting straight down to business like I expected she would.

      "Damn right you're lucky!" My father bursts, no longer containing his rage. "What if he thought you were an enemy? He would've killed you. He still could've killed you without meaning too. You're never coming down here again, young lady, and-."

     Mrs. Clark holds up her hand, silencing him even though he's her boss.

     "Actually, let's take into consideration the fact that he doesn't see her as an enemy. This could be very well used to study exactly how the cogs in his head turn when deciding who's friend and who's foe."

     "What are you getting at?" Dad asks, suspicion in his eyes.

      "I'm just saying it would be very beneficial to have Ashley here be the one to correspond with Subject Zero."

     "Wait, you want me to talk with him? After what just happened?" I interrupt. I don't have anything against Zero, eh didn't hurt me after all, but I'm not going back in their knowing he could crush me or kill me by doing something as simple as touch, even if he doesn't mean to.

     "Well you'll be more secured, with guards on hand with sedatives. And we've created this new suit for him so the only skin showing will be his head."

     I stare at Mrs. Clark, shock and fear on my face, the same way my dad is looking at her.

      "Absolutely not! Don't you already have your chosen people selected to go talk to him?"

      "Yes, but we haven't sent them in yet. Here, how about this? We send each of my team members inside with Subject Zero for say five minutes and see how he reacts. Then, we send Ashley in and see how it goes. If Ashley does better than the other team members in getting information from him, then she stays on the team. If she doesn't, she goes back to being a secretary."