Before the Fall

Chapter Fourteen - The First Dose

Jimin

I could feel her eyes burning holes into my back as I stood at the cabinet, rifling through different little glass bottles.

Each one contained a different part of the hybrid process.

Each one a little glass bottle of horror, I suppose.

I don't really remember my hybridization.

I was too young.

My first memory was of a small nursery center, where the first face I learned to care about was Taehyung.

Our caregiver, a small woman who was simply a human nanny, told us we were born to the same litter.

We grew up believing we were brothers, until it was time for our augmentations.

I shuddered.

"Okay, Mrs. Presley, I have your first little dose here." I dramatically held the bottle up and filled the syringe in my hand. I smiled as I squirted out the bubbles.

I could smell her fear. It was...exhilarating and irritating at the same time.

"Now, just relax."

"Some nerve you have telling me to relax."

"Some nerve you have speaking that way to the man who currently holds your life in his hands."

"Go ahead, kill me off. I couldn't care less."

Normally, a person would be bluffing when they said that. However, I sensed she truly meant what she said.

"Well, now, I know that would make you very happy, Mrs. Presley. But I'm not really being paid to make you happy." I smiled, making sure it reached my eyes this time.

"I don't really care what you're being paid to do."

"You should." I held her arm with my hand, quickly spotting a perfect injection site.

I lined the needle up with her arm and just as I was about to push it in, she flinched.

"Aren't you going to disinfect my arm first?"

I stood upright and failed miserably at keeping my laughter in.

"Disinfect...ma'am, I don't think you understand what I about to inject into your body." I knew my laughter was making her mad, but really, I couldn't help it.

"I fully aware, Doctor," she spat.

"Then you should also be fully aware that a few germs from your skin won't make a bit of difference."

She glared at me and I rolled my eyes and shrugged.

If she was going to be this kind of patient, I had no feelings when it came to her care. If you're going to be pathetic, cry and beg me to stop. If you're going to be stoic and defiant, then be silent and stubborn. Don't be a combination of both. I find it bothersome.

Leaning back down, I lined the needle up again and I glanced up to see her face scrunched up.

"Alright, just a small pinch," I sang out, slowly pushing the needle into her arm. I know it was mean of me, but I felt she deserved to be humbled a bit.

I heard her gasp and whimper a moment but then as I looked up again, she was staring angrily at the ceiling, mouth in a tight line across her face.

"All done," I smiled, patting her shoulder. I discarded the needle in a safety box and then walked back over to my patient. "Now, would you care to use the bathroom or stretch your legs? You're going to feel very crappy here in a few minutes and I suggest you get all of your more strenuous movements out of the way before it hits you."

She acted as though she was going to refuse my offer, but then her eyes filled with tears and she slowly nodded her head.

I felt a bit of her fight had left as I undid the straps and let her move her arms.

This was definitely going to be one of my more exciting experiments indeed.

* * *

Namjoon

I was sitting at my desk, sifting through multiple outpost supply requests, leave requests, and general complaints from the men.

"I thought these things were the sort of stuff you did for a job?" I looked over at my second-in-command who was standing at the window, hands behind his back, his gaze looking down at the hybrid troops training below.

"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?"

"Jin, since when have you decided to question orders?"

He jerked his head around, an angry expression on his face. "You know the walls-"

"Have ears, yes, Jin-hyung, I know. I also know I have my office bug swept by Jungkook twice a day. So, really, just relax?"

He resumed his stiff posture at the window.

"But are you sure, Namjoon? She really doesn't look like a combative prisoner. She didn't even scream or spit at us while we were in there."

I could echo his doubts but I am the outpost's commanding officer. I answer only to General Li himself. It wouldn't do much for morale if I let doubting officers know I agreed with them.

"I think, hyung, that we need to just do as we're told for once. Just lay low and follow orders. Otherwise everything will have been for nothing."

"I know what you say is true. I just...I just have reservations about putting her through the hybridization process and the augmentation process so quickly."

I leaned back in my chair and listened to him voice his concerns. Anytime Jin voiced a concern it was very valid.

"I know we don't truly remember our hybridization process, but from what I've seen of the experiments, it's really very painful."

"Do you have a soft spot for this woman already, hyung? I thought we agreed no woman would ruin our brotherhood."

"She's not! I'm not going soft, Joon. I'm just..."

"Hyung," I said, standing to my feet, walking over to join him at the window, "never lose that."

"Lose what?"

"Your empathy for others. It's a gift and one that's quite rare in our line of work." I patted his shoulder and returned to my seat.

"You know what would also be a gift? Helping me get some of this crap paperwork done." I smirked as he simply rolled his eyes and returned to staring out the window.

I stared aimlessly at the paperwork and grumbled about the lack of proper technology in this outpost. I spun my pen on my desk and watched it with feline focus.

To be honest, Jin has a point. Would what we had been ordered to do be right? Did this woman really deserve this kind of punishment? It didn't matter anyway. Park had already texted to say he had given her the first dose and to send two men to help watch her.

The first dose was always the worse for some reason. You would think it would be the third or eighth dose. But no, H-Corp made sure the first dose was the strongest so it would weed out the weakest ones. It was a way of adding insult to injury. To punish those who had been ripped from their families or had even watched their families die.

In this case, only the strong survived.

No weaklings would make it past the first six hours.

So, perhaps, as a favor from the heavens above, our new ward might die on the table.

It would definitely involve a lot less paperwork for my desk if she did.