White Roses

I saw it coming but it still caught me off guard. I felt a balled fist making contact with my muscle as it smashed my entrails together like a rogue freight train. THUD! I felt blood vessel burst and my diaphragm collapse under the force the fist packed behind it. The fist continued to thrust upward until my liver and stomach stopped the knuckles from clashing into my spine. My breath instantly left me for dead as I doubled over. My knees buckled from the force of the blow and as I went down, I heard a cracking noise ricochet between my ribs. Fire ran through every fiber of my being and I tasted bile, adrenaline and a hint of blood.

As my crumpled body hit the ground, I gasped for air. But oxygen eluded my grasp as my head spun around. My organs slowly regained their original volume: going from a pancake-like mass to their original life-saving state. Through bleary eyes, I struggled to see the tall man above me as he raised his hand once again to strike me. I just need to keep my heartbeat steady. Please. Don't let him know I feel the pain.

Just as he launched for me, I rolled over and pushed myself off from the ground while taking a deep breath. My left ribs protested from my movement as I pushed my feet upwards. My body leapt over and my hands balled up into a fist. THUD! My knuckles made contact with the man's face and made a satisfying crunch sound afterwards. Ah-ha! I got him!

The man howled into pain and dropped to his knees. A smile made its way to my face as I turned around to hear about my results. Suddenly the fluorescent lights flooded the room while two other men entered the fighting arena. A nurse also entered, rushing over to the boy that I've taken down a few moments ago. But my eyes were on the two males. I recognized the tall bulky male with a thick mop of black curls and dimples. Logan was my spymaster... my trainer. And the other male was significantly older. He was perhaps into his late fifties and was very distinguished-looking. I recognized him as the head of the A.E.R., Karl Wallington.

My cheek began to sting from the punches it took and I struggled not to flinch from it. I became aware of the feeling of warm liquid running down my face. It was blood. I took a deep breath again, facing Logan and Mr. Wallington. Mr. Wallington glanced at her with approval in his eyes, "Your heartbeats didn't even spike when you got hit in the stomach or when you were escaping from his clutches. I'm very impressed with you Rose."

"Indeed. Its been one of the many things we've been working on. This should allow her to pass lie detectors, withstand torture and pain and many other things." Logan replied. I was never heard. I would never speak unless I was specifically told to. I was supposed to remain silent and observant at all times.

"That's brilliant," Mr. Wallington glanced again at me. "How old is she again?"

Logan smiled as his hands gripped my shoulders and bragged, "Six years old. She's already fluent in French, Italian and English. Rose could be a perfect sleeper agent if you needed her to be."

~~~~~~

My name is Aurélien Emerwen Rose, also known as patient #8473. I was the back-up plan... a girl twin. My own brother, Aideen Ethan Rose was the prodigy, the perfect specimen that they wanted. Yet he only lived three hours outside of our surrogate's womb. I never met him yet I'll live the rest of my life living in his shadow. The A.E.R., which is also known as the Advanced Eugenics Regulations, had immediately adopted me as my brother's successor. The only times I've ever had as a normal child was the times I've spent with Dr. Hughes and his wife until the age three. I don't really remember anything from being with Dr. Hughes however I do remember how I felt. I remember how I felt when I was ripped away from Dr. Hughes. It had traumatized me and I've never saw him again.

My first real accomplishment was maintaining a steady heartbeat while being beaten up by a sixteen years old boy and figuring out how to escape his clutches. I was only six years old when I started to get attention outside of the A.E.R. I was told that the CIA, FBI and many other organizations had developed a special interest in me. They became investors in my life.

This was my life. My entire life revolved around being the perfect killing machine. I was expected to be up at the crack of dawn and practicing yoga a.k.a. my breathing techniques and flexibility. I took classes on languages, geography, and customs. I followed a strict exercise regimens. I was taught how to handle all kinds of weapons. I was an expert on different types of combat whether if it was karate or boxing. I was physically, mentally and sexually abused every day whether if it was water-boarding or getting hit by a whip. I had to built an tolerance for pain. But none of these classes or abuse had ever taught me how to feel.

Emotions were an alien thing to me. Yet emotions were an essential part of being a human. No amount of genetic engineering or splicing DNA would ever stop me from having emotions. I was still human nevertheless. It wasn't until years later that I realized that my emotions were warped. I found joy when I successfully completed my missions. I crave Logan's approval and satisfaction. I was sad when I wasn't needed to complete an mission. But still... I felt nothing. I've killed so many people that my success rate was literally 100%.If I was assigned to kill somebody, they're pretty much already dead. It was just a matter of time.

My reputation had became increasingly fierce and I soon became known as the Black Rose.