Warslave

Prologue

What is important is that it broke a rib. Broke and healed, in a matter of minutes. I look forward to see what else it can-"

"-five strains, instead of two. What difference it makes, we are not sure, but one strain of its DNA is still human, though our hypothesis is that it won't remain as such. This means we can replicate the other four strains and bind them to similar genetic sequences.

The process will be dangerous, so we will try it on subjects 1 and 23 first, to see if their enhanced physiologies can bear the strain of the mutation. We are hopeful."

"Of all the possible candidates, there is only one survivor. The others died either because the mutations and enhancements were too much for their bodies, or because the pain became too much for them to bear, and they went into shock.

I have suggested that the sequence in which the mutations and enhancements are administered should be changed, but it turns out that without the detox, the children can not survive the process. Still, one survivor is a start, and it's good to see our research finally bearing fruit, after all these years.

Subject 48 seems to have taken rather well to his new physiology though, we look forward to seeing the results in a few months."

"47 and 48 got into a fight. Both subjects applied several lacerations to the other. Of note in this is that these lacerations left scars, even though they healed in seconds, and the nerve ends were restored. Further research req-"

"-49 and 50 are slowly finding their pace with the training regimen. Ashley objected to the torture again, but she was met with the same response: can't have the weapons freeze up due to pain.

I gave up ages ago on that front. Guess the subjects will just have to get used to the pain."

"-a crippling weakness in the project. The problem is twofold: because they can't feel, their abilities are nowhere near as powerful as they should be.

The other problem is that 47 and 48 just killed 55 and 56. They showed no remorse about it, because the subjects can't bond with each other, beyond their assigned 'sibling'. Add to that the fact that these two subjects outshine the others by quite a large margin, and they-"

"-solution provided by the Coven. Repairing everything we have altered in their brains will be impossible, so instead we are to make use of the telepathic abilities the subjects have displayed.

Each subject will get a Core, an emotion or concept in their minds that their powers can be bound to. They will learn to feel from resonating with each other, and from mirroring the emotions of humans they deal with. Not an ideal solution, but we are still in the prototype phase after all."

"-grown out of control. By the time we had him back in his cage, several scientists and security personnel were already torn to shreds. Luckily 48 stepped in. It seems the subjects are unable to harm their siblings."

"-new robotics team. They're going to be responsible for the cybernetic enhancements for the Warslaves. I am cautiously optimistic about this.

Sure, technology has only gotten us so far in the project, but the reliance on magic doesn't sit well with me."

"-more problems, but also solutions. Through the same process we used to apply their Cores, the Coven has offered to apply Limiters to the subjects, a secondary emotion that keeps their power in check.

We'd apply these one Limiter per pair, as the wide variety of Cores have resulted in some sub-optimal emotions and mindsets becoming part of the project."

"Year 14. Day 37. Vincent decided today that we can no longer refer to the subjects by number. I think it is to hide the death toll, but my opinion is disregarded, as always.

So, for my own recollection, here are the subjects I work on:

1: Protective Instinct. A useless Core for the project, but he's the most experienced Warslave we have, so he is still invaluable. He teaches the others wherever the programs prescribed by the project fall short.

23: Fear. Invaluable Core. It is both a weapon in their arsenal, and a way to keep them in line. All subjects are to get familiar with Fear, in a way that they can fully utilise it.

47: Bloodlust. 47 has been the saving grace of this Project, providing both the genetic template for the other Warslaves, and providing the most ideal Core.

48: Pride. If we had been able to get rid of this one, we would have done so. His Core has already set the project back significantly, but his test scores are the second best among the entire group, only to be outshined by his sibling.

49: Obsession. We're not sure what to do with this one. He turned out powerful, but... well, the mutations had some undesirable effects. Some genetic deviation from the template code has left his skin without pigment.

50: Peace. A useless fucking Core if ever we had one, but since she's the first female subject to survive the procedure, some exceptions must be made. PR has made it very clear that it will be a marketing nightmare if all subjects were male."

"-seem to develop additional powers based on their interpretations of their Core. This development would mean that we can not produce a standardised model-"

"-Oh, right and it's not like every little deviation from our original genetic template can already result in horrifically painful deaths. Sorry that all subjects look similar because of that... sometimes I feel like marketing will shut us down before the Bureau will. Wel, we have a list of ethnicities that have to be incorporated into the Project.

New recruitment tactics will just be to find orphans that won't be missed, strap them onto a table and see what happens.

We'll have to be careful when dumping the bodies..."

She almost wanted to puke when she stopped the recordings. Aurora had seen much in her years as a supposed superhero, though she would never call herself that, and she had even fought some of these subjects before. She had only barely survived some of those fights, given the skills of the Warslaves.

Now that she heard where they had come from, it all fell into place. The casual manner in which the voice spoke about it only made it worse.

Then again, in her dealings with them, she had to find out the hard way that these Warslaves weren't really people, and the Bureau had quickly adapted to treat them as such.

Could she really blame others for doing the same?