The Failed Experiment

"Birth"

It is the 30th of March, Jade is eating breakfast with her mom. Both have blond hair, but Jade has blue eyes and her mom has brown. "Mommy, why don't I need to go to school today", asks the little 7 year old Jade. Her mom smiles softly at Jade "We're going to your father's job today". Her father works as a scientist in a lab. He always says he's more of a doctor, but that's a lie. He's making superhumans in his secret lab with many other fellow scientists, most of those ran after their own lab got discovered and are now working in this one. It's located near the Californian coast. He always keeps quiet about his job and what he does there, but his wife, Jade's mom, is very certain that what her husband is doing is illegal, yet she doesn't want to get him locked up, so she keeps quiet about it.

Jade is very smart for a 7 year old, she also got the brains from her dad who she barely sees. He's a lot at the lab, but he makes time for his family at times. "What is his job", Jade asks. She had asked this many times before, she remembers it every time, but every time her mom answers, she doesn't believe it. "He's a doctor Jade, I know you're smart enough to remember that". Jade nods, still not believing it.

"When can I see Frela again?", she asks. "I don't know sweety", Jade's mom answers. Frela is Jade's best friend, from their first day at school they were. At school not many people like Jade, they call her a nerd and a know-it-all, just because she's a lot smarter than her classmates. Frela doesn't mind it, she's just an average schoolgirl.

"Can we go?", Jade asks as she just swallows the last bit of her breakfast, she's impatient a lot of the time. Her mom Samantha smiles "Go get dressed Jade, then we can go". The little blond girl jumps off her chair and goes to her room to get dressed while her mom finishes breakfast.

After about one and a half hours, they arrive at the entrance of the lab. Inside the scientists are already at work, even though it's 9:30 am now. "We lost those 2 last week", one of them says. "We already had too many failures, too many died and too many start to think for themselves.", another says. Jade's dad walks over "This is not failure, this is process.", he says. "What makes you think we'll succeed today?", the first one says "Many already died". "The vitals of E258A, E258B and E258C are stable, today would be the time to get them out", Henry, Jade's dad, says "but we need to calm down, my wife and daughter are coming today, so be careful with what you say". All the 5 other scientists nod understandingly, they know it's a secret about what they're doing.

Not even a minute later both girls walk in and look around. Henry walks over "Hey". Jade runs over hugs him "Hey daddy". "Hey there sweetheart", her dad says as he hugs back. Samantha smiles at them "Morning honey". Henry smiles at his wife and kisses her cheek "Morning Sam". She smiles and looks around "Busy day?". "Not really, or at least not yet", Henry says with a smile. The little 7 year old looks up at her dad "Why daddy?". He crouches down in front of his daughter "Today we might cure someone of a rare disease, she won't be sick anymore". "That's good", Jade says with a smile.

Then one of the scientists walks over to them and shows Henry some notes "We need some help". He nods and looks at his wife and daughter "Sorry you 2, but I have to go and help real quick", he says as he walks off to a different room. Jade follows him before her mom could even notice.

In that room there are a lot of big glass tubes, big enough to fill a full grown adult in it, the tubes are filled with green liquid. In the liquid there are babies growing, some even fully grown. On the tanks there are big labels, all starting with an E with a number, sometimes having an A, B, C or D at the end.

Jade looks around confused and thinks "What is this?". Henry walks over to the tube with E258B on it "So it happened?". One of the others nods "She died, but we have to act fast to help E258A". Jade's dad nods "Open both, we need to do it now". The tube of both E258A and E258B get drained of the green liquid before they open. Jade slowly backs up and hides behind a table, scared of whatever they are doing. Both babies get taken out of their tubes. "Sure E258B's eye is fine for E258A?", Henry asks. The other 2 scientists nod while the baby from tube E258A starts crying loudly. Henry sighs and injects her, making her fall asleep quite fast. "Alright let's do this then", he says as he gets modern medical equipment.

Jade is still behind the table and covers her ears, she looks at the door she came in from and gets up. The blond girl walks over to it and tries to open it, but it's locked. She quickly goes back to behind the table, hiding and trying not to cry in fear.

Meanwhile, in the other room, Samantha and a few other scientists are still there. She looks around but can't find Jade "Jade?". The others look at her. "Where's my little Jade?", she asks. The scientists look around but no one can find Jade. "You don't know where she went ma'am?", one of them asks. Jade's mom shakes her head "No I don't, she was just here". "When is the last time you saw her?", one of the scientists asks. "She was just here before my husband had to go real quick", she says as she looks at the scientists nametag "Brian". All the guys look worried at each other, and then at the locked door Henry and Jade just walked through. Brian is the first to talk "Is it possible she followed her dad into the other room?". Samantha's eyes go wide, she knows she should've watched Jade better since she's a very curious girl. "Ma'am, do you think she's in there?", one of the other scientists asks. Samantha nods "Very likely, she's curious".

Sometime later, the scientists are done with the eye swap. Jade's still hiding at the place she was before, still not moving or saying anything, very scared of whatever just happened. "So that's that", Henry says "The good eye from E258B has replaced the bad one from E258A". The other scientists nod. "We have to make sure that new eye gets checked, a 100% DNA match doesn't guarantee the eye actually works". At that moment the baby opens her eyes and looks at them, then looks at her side and sees the dead baby from tube E258B. Even though she doesn't know what's going on, she looks rather shocked at the body. One of the scientists notices and picks up the body, wraps it in an old blanket and walks off with it.

Jade takes a small peek and when she sees they aren't doing anything weird, she gets up "Daddy?". Henry freezes at the words of his daughter behind him, not knowing she was there. The little blond girl slowly walks over "Daddy?", she says, clearly scared. Henry turns around and puts up a fake smile "Hey there Jade". "What was that...?", Jade asks nervously. "I saved a baby's life", Henry says trying to sound optimistic. Jade looks confused "Why these green things...?". Henry crouches down in front of his daughter "That way the babies have a better chance of surviving". "Can I see the baby?", Jade asks. Her dad takes a deep breath and looks at the other scientists who nods, signalling it's safe. He gets back up and picks up the baby who's still awake, looking very confused.

"This is the little girl", Henry says as he shows the still dirty baby to Jade. The baby looks normal, nothing special is visible from the outside except the little baby girl's hair, it's brown and blond at the same time. Mostly brown with the ends blond. The little fully blond girl looks at the baby "Was she hurt?". "Yes she was, in her eye, we healed her", the man replies. Jade nods and smiles "You saved a little girl daddy, what is her name?". Unsure how to respond, Henry just says "She doesn't have one yet". "You save more people?", Jade asks. "Yes I do, as many as I can", Henry replies.

At that moment the door opens and Samantha runs in and picks her daughter up "Are you okay? Are you hurt?". Jade shakes her head "Daddy saved a baby". Samantha looks at her husband and then sees the baby. "Well done Henry", she says with a soft smile, knowing there's more behind it. Henry smiles back and nods "I should get back to work", he says as he kisses his wife's and daughters forehead "See you at home in the evening". "Bye daddy", Jade says, proud of her dad saving the baby. Samantha just smiles. "Let's go home then", she says as she walks off with Jade in her arms. The little girl just peeks over her shoulder and waves at her dad, who happily waves back.

After a bit they're gone and the door gets closed again. "That was a close one sir", Brian says. Henry nods "Too close for my liking, we must be more careful with the door". "So what makes E258A so special?", one of the others asks. "She has a skeleton made of a metal alloy, basically indestructible, she is very fast at learning anything, and-", he says as he puts the baby down "Super-fast reflexes", he says as he tried to tap the baby's nose, but the baby girl grabs the finger before he can while giggling. The other scientists clap, proud of their creation. "This is E258A", Henry says proudly as he looks at the baby girl "Our new and improved experiment".