Cyanide

Seven

Via smirked to herself as she checked the time on her screen. 25 seconds. Turning, she laughed as Finn skidded to a halt behind her.
"28 seconds, Finn," Via told her friend. "Still too slow to beat me."
Finn laughed back at her and slapped her lightly on the arm, mock-glaring.

Via's class of Keepers had only been training at the Lab for a month, but they'd all already adjusted. The first day after the procedure was the worst. When they'd been told to get into the pods and been knocked out, the Experimentals had replaced their bones with carbon metal. It was the strongest metal in the world but it was incredibly flexible and light. Every Keeper had had the procedure done to them since the Lab began. It made them faster, stronger, better. The day after, however, it had the trainee Keepers a few hours to even move. A month on, they were all used to their new bodies and the rigorous training Daniel put them through. Another change was their emotions. While with other Keepers they were allowed to joke around and have fun. As soon as they were around others with different Assignments, they had to put on the blank masks of expressionless neutrality they'd been wearing their whole lives.

It wasn't hard to do that, since when they were around others who weren't Keepers, their easy banter and emotions simply shut down. It was the same with everyone. It wasn't something they could control, it was automatic. It wasn't without its drawbacks, of course.

Two weeks after their class had come to the Lab, the new Experimentals and Keepers had met up. As soon as they'd seen each other, they'd become silent, wary. Astoria and Finn saw each other for the first time since they'd got their Assignments. They'd greeted each other but for once they hadn't smiled. It had been awkward, formal and stiff. When Finn had mentioned Oliver, Astoria had dismissed him as 'just another Rat.' Finn had cried later in the dorm and Via had comforted her, her own eyes dry but her heart hurting. It was that night that she finally saw that the world of the City was wrong.

It had seemed to be made for Via when she was younger. She was the perfect child, praised by everyone for her iron self-control and brilliant Test scores. Oliver had been pushed to the side, scorned and mocked, but he had always been her brother. She had a reputation to keep in school so when Oliver found friends in Astoria and Finn she was glad, happy for him. To hear kind, cheerful Astoria dismiss Oliver as a Rat, it opened Via's eyes to the cold cruelty of the City. Finn's sobs had eventually slowed as she fell asleep and it was never discussed again.

Astoria had made no friends among her fellow Experimentals. She longed for the days in school with Finn and Oliver, simple and happy. When she'd seen Finn, inside she screamed with joy but her body wouldn't co-operate. The words that came out of her mouth were formal and cold when she all she wanted was to give her best friend a hug. When she'd dismissed Oliver, a bit of Astoria died inside. When she'd got back to the Experimentals' dorm, she'd laid on her bed and cried, unaware that Finn was doing the same. The next day, Astoria's ranking had gone down by five and the older Experimental who instructed them pulled her aside and injected her with a blue liquid that made her feel dizzy. When she saw Finn again, she felt nothing.

Oliver had no way of knowing the time in his cell. Whenever he asked one of the Keepers who stood outside, they only laughed at him. It had been a while when he was taken out of his cell and to the experiment room. When he was chained to the metal operating table and the anaesthetic was coursing through his veins, bringing with it a feeling of numbing coldness, an Experimental came up to him with a jar of poisonous-looking liquid. She didn't have a mask on and her face was pale as she looked at Oliver. Her blue eyes were cloudy, a symptom of pill use. She was wearing the standard white coat of all the Experimentals and her blonde hair was tied behind her back.
"Astoria?" Oliver got out, his voice slurred.
Astoria's eyes widened slightly before she relaxed into neutrality again. She passed the jar that she was holding behind her and tightened the cuffs on Oliver's wrists to the point that pain was throbbing through him and he was starting to lose feeling in his fingers. A sharp pain shot through his forearm and he realised he'd been injected with the liquid that Astoria had been holding.
"Starting testing phase one. Subject A1, high immune system, high pain tolerance." Astoria spoke, her voice impossibly calm. "Begin."
The cuffs tightened around Oliver's wrists and ankles but he barely felt a thing. When he finally felt something, pain rushed through him in a wave that made him feel dizzy.
"Increase the dosage," Astoria ordered.
Oliver was injected with the liquid and the process began again.

"As the highest-ranked Keepers in your class, I'm putting you on duty guarding some of the Rats," Daniel said.
Via and Finn exchanged excited glances and looked back at their instructor.

They were stood in the trainee's weapons room. Holo guns, knives and armour surrounded them on all four walls and a two piles of gear sat on the bench in front of Via and Finn.
"You'll be armed with holo guns and armour, just in case," Daniel continued. "The Rats shouldn't get out but A1, one of the most well-guarded subjects, tried to escape a month ago, so be vigilant."

After the two girls had armed themselves, they went to their assigned posts. They were both guarding the same cell, an easy one on the first floor of the Lab which contained a passive subject. They'd be moved up to more difficult jobs once they'd graduated but although they were the best in their class they didn't have the skills for the best positions.