Whisper

Chapter 5

Mateo had to carry Clarise back to her room since she passed out on the chair after 4 hours of constant testing. 

Her hair was sticking to her sweaty pale face and she was gritting her teeth like she was still in pain. The assistants had already changed her clothes and luckily she wore an undershirt and underwear that were unstained, and Mateo was instructed to have her rest in her room, and alert Dr. Kadea when she awakes. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Mateo could see another project being escorted to a different lab. He wasn't sure which project it was, but this one had both her arms in large handcuffs that covered her hands. 2 guards each with snare poles both had the leads around her neck as she attempted to resist every few steps. 

Her uniform was like Clarise's, except hers were very wrinkly and there was a large tear on the side like she tried to rip the shirt off her body.

It was Project Raptor. 

Her abilities gave her enhanced strength, speed, and senses. In addition to the ability to dislocate any of her joints and reconnect them. Her abilities wouldn't be that note-worthy if it wasn't for her razor sharp talons that line her fingers and toes. The perfect stealth weapon, and even better if they can clone her. 

Which they have, but they can't seem to get the clones to last more than a week or two. 

The oldest clone lived to be about a month old before her cells deteriorated into nothingness. 

Mateo struggled a bit to swipe his key card while holding Clarise. He had to shift her to one arm like a baby, having her head rest right in the crook of his neck, her light breathing tickling him ever so slightly. She was concerningly light too, according to her last medical checkup she barely weighed 110 pounds. She was 5'7" too, and now that Mateo thinks about it, she felt like skin and bones. 

"Clarise?" He muttered, seeing if she would react. She didn't respond, instead she rolled onto her side, her back facing him. She was out cold. Sighing with mixed emotions, he pulled up the desk chair and plopped down on it, waiting for her to wake up like instructed. 

He had been working for BEYOND for just under a year. His whole mercenary company was hired by the corporation and they all found it super strange, but they were being paid exceptionally well so they didn't question why a trillion-dollar corporation would hire mercenaries rather than actual security. It was weirder that BEYOND did have their own personal security company. 

His whole company were thoroughly interviewed and their backgrounds basically rooted up in order to determine which Projects they would be assigned to. Mateo is the youngest mercenary out of the whole company, and when he was given Clarise's file he was surprised at how young she was. 

Her photo gets updated every year, and skimming through the old data it seemed like she just stopped aging physically since she was 15. In other words her appearance just screamed youth, but her eyes just screamed emptiness.

Clarise had rolled back to face Mateo, her brows scrunching slightly before her eyes slowly opened. 

Adjusting to the light, she briefly noted that she had been moved to her room, but was surprised her was a dark figure sitting at her desk. Startled, she shot up, her hands slipping on the bedsheets causing her to tumble forward about to plummet to the floor. 

"Whoa!" Mateo stood up and caught her, situating her back on the bed, "You alright?" 

Shaken and shocked, she just stared at him dumbfounded. Usually when she passes out at the lab, she's just moved to her room and unbothered until it was time for Dr. Kadea to talk to her. But today - which has been the strangest day - Mateo was sat there, giving her an awkward smile. 

"Clarise?" Mateo waved at her until her eyes finally focused and she just waved back, "Are you okay?" 

Yes. 

"Ok - good." He shifted to pull out his walkie-talkie, reporting that Clarise had just woken up. "Dr. Kadea will be here shortly." 

Clarise nodded and curled up, sitting in the middle of her bed. Her whole body was sore, especially her jaw and tongue. She reacted more violently today and nearly chewed up her tongue. Luckily for her the facility has quite the medical experience and somehow is able to speed up a body's natural healing process. So at the very least - despite her soreness - she could keep her tongue. 

"Are you sure you're okay?" Mateo has asked this for the 3rd time already, genuinely concerned for her wellbeing. 

Nodding again, Clarise closed her eyes, resting her forehead on her knees as she awaited Dr. Kadea. She was just resting her eyes, but keeping her ears wide open, listening so closely she could almost hear Mateo's breathing, almost his heartbeat as well. 

She didn't realize she didn't give a verbal response to Mateo's questions, a rare moment. Her body has always forced her to respond with her mouth, but perhaps today she was too drained to actually mouth a response to him. 

Standing there very silently, Mateo watched Clarise closely, not prying his eyes away from her at all. It was like if he didn't watch her, she'd simply shrink away to nothingness. She seemed so small, curled up on her bed like she is now, so delicate. A simple breeze could come by and just blow her away. 

Little did the two know, the camera in Clarise's room whirled to life. Usually it's just focused on the center of the room, but this time it was zoomed in on the pair who were positioned just over a foot away from each other. Dr. Kadea was fascinated by the reactions Mateo drew from Clarise. 

She's never blushed or stumbled. Her movements were always robotic, her face bearing a face of indifference at every moment. But as soon as Mateo was with her, it was like she was actually human with emotions. 

Was it their closeness in age? 

Was it Mateo himself? 

Why was it after over a decade of questioning her and researching her, she finally exhibited unusual behavior.