Genosha: For Free Trade: Slavery For All

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The first group of selected mutants are put into the mutate process.



The guards led them through the doors, separating them into two groups and sending the first five through. They were heavily guarded, and as they arrived in the new lab, they were stunned by the size. It was dominated by five large pods, each looking like a massive coffin of steel and electronics. They were arranged around a central control area, in which a man in a protective containment suit stood, working quietly at a terminal. A number of support staff moved around the pods, making adjustments and checking the read-outs. An older woman in a sharply tailored suit stood in a small raised area that they were led to. There was a table on which five brightly coloured wetsuit-like outfits sat.

It was the coldness of the room that caught Sarah's attention first and foremost - both the chill in the air, amplified by her lack of clothing, and the sterile, scientific nature of its surroundings. Her arms remained wrapped around herself as she slowly walked into the cavernous chamber. The enormous pods looked terrifying, with people buzzing about prepping them for whatever was about to happen, she assumed. There were also suits visible on a table, which caught her eye by the sheer dint of being a form of clothing. Sarah's eyes finally rested on the woman in the suit, who stood out from the other persons gathered in the area. "What're you going to do to us?"

Sasha Ryan turned around at the question of the girl. Her eyes slid over the five girls or young women before her, taking in their tense postures and the fear in their eyes. For just a few moments her eyes softened and something akin to pity shone through. But then they became mirrors once more, showing nothing of what was going on inside. "What we are going to do?" She asked in a rich mellow voice. "You will be serving the people of Genosha for now." She was careful not to mention a length of service. "This..." She gestured to all the machinery around her. "... will help you do that."

The violence surrounding their examination and selection had reinforced to Yvette the hopelessness of their situation, but still she had to try and at least save the students. Molly's screams still echoed in her ears. "Please," she said, her voice trembling. "I understand you have the orders, but you do not have to do this. We are not Genoshan and we are not terrorists. At least let Sarah go. She is only the teenager. She is too young for this."

"You are holding captive citizens of at least three different countries." Callie was trying to sound as reasonable as possible, hoping that the fear in her voice wasn't bleeding through. "You are inviting an international effort against your country. Please, reconsider what you are doing."

"This is ridiculous," Amara snarled. Without the need to hold her temper back, she was furious, refusing to be scared or cowed. "You can try and convince yourself that this is the right thing to do, but you know that's crap. You're just protecting your own, sick, perverted society that deserves to be wiped out."

"We will not encourage you to throw your lives away in senseless violence that will only hurt many." Dr. Ryan replied, careful to keep her voice completely level. "Instead you will be helped to be useful and to help people with the talents you have." A small part of her was wondering though why she had chosen to repeat the words her mentor and friend David Moreau had given her when she had questioned him on his decision on what to do with the children almost verbatim. Doubt flared up again as she finished speaking though and turned around sharply to walk to the figure in the suit. "Is this absolutely necessary?" She asked once more, keeping her voice low so no one else could hear them.

Face obscured and voice muffled, they couldn't make out the figure, but he turned to Dr. Ryan. "Nothing is absolutely necessary. However, confining them to prison has its own dangers. They could get themselves killed fighting the guards or other prisoners. Possibly even suicide themselves. We really have no idea what level of indoctrination they have been subjected to or for how long in their Brotherhood cell. The blonde one certainly has no compunctions arguing for human genocide. Certainly Magneto has never been above ordering one of his people to martyr themselves."

The man touched a few buttons. "Following the mutate process, they will be docile enough not to challenge authority unnecessarily, reducing the risks of them endangering themselves. Other than a bit of hair, the process can be fully reversed once the terrorist threat has passed and they can be safely re-introduced into society. I know you have strong reservations about the process, Doctor Ryan, but I think the President is right in this case."

Sarah was just shaking her head, in denial that all of this was really going on. "No, we're not from Genosha, we're not supposed to be serving its people. This isn't right!" Why couldn't they see that, why couldn't anyone but her see that? She wanted to scream it at the top of her lungs but she simply didn't have the energy or the strength for that any longer, and besides, what good would it have done anyway? Sarah felt utterly and completely defeated, and it terrified her.

Laurie sighed, body hurting from the effort it had taken to stay upright and stable for so long, she really just wanted all this over with, and if it stopped her from dying in a few days from organ failure, then all the better. There would be time afterwards to think of a plan of escape, and this time they'd have their powers back.

"Whatever you're going to do, just do it" she said, glancing at the others and shaking her head. "Talking endlessly about it isn't going to change either side, and I for one am sick and tired of listening to your justifications, so just get on with it."

Sasha Ryan took a deep breath, accepting the reality before her, and stood before the five young women. "I will be so kind to explain to you what will happen to you. The process that you will undergo will help you to serve the people of Genosha better. It will both enhance your power as well as make you more... cooperative with both your coworkers and superiors. And as a point meant to reassure... the process is reversable. Once the time is there, everything might be undone."

Yvette's mental image was still full of Mutate 17 and their dead eyes, but there had to be hope, right? "If we cooperate with the process," she said, drawing a deep breath. "Will that be enough? You won't change the others?"

"I think you're wasting your time, Yvette," Amara chimed in, anger still lacing her voice. "We don't have any bargaining power here. They'll do whatever the hell they like, because they think they have the right to."

"If you and the other three who were selected cooperate and the remaining group will cease resisting us and cooperate also, the chance is very great they won't be forced to undergo the process. That will change as soon they rise up once more or if they are continually disobedient. Then there is a very large chance all of you will be changed." Dr. Ryan warned.

All of their arguments were falling on deaf ears, which just made Sarah shake her head even more. There was nothing they could do, it seemed, but go through with it and hope that they would be reverted back to normal after whatever purpose for which they were being transformed was over. It was far from optimal but what could they do? Sarah didn't have any fight left in her, which was a horrible thought that she couldn't bear to linger on for long. So she just tried her best to stop crying and stood there, letting them do whatever it was they wanted to do and get it over with already.

There seemed very little else they could do, and if it meant the others would be spared... Yvette nodded and stepped forward, accepting the suit that was handed to her and beginning to work it on. At least they wouldn't be naked any more.

Quickly, they placed them all in the suits. The invasive waste cycling systems earned more protests, but the assistants were professional and deft. Unlike Moreau's actions in the other room, this process was cold clinical; impersonal and efficient. They were each guided to a pod, and as they lay against the padding seat, a number of cables and hoses were attached to linkages in the suit. Restraints held them in place tightly, although not uncomfortably, and proved necessary as a series of needles slipped in, including one at the base of the skull.

"Doctor Ryan, I will be starting the procedure. Do give my regards to the President." The Gengineer said, as the pods started to lower. There was only a small window in the pod, and it offered little view once it closed. Inside, the machines hummed as whirred, as if they were inside a mechanical womb. The comparison was especially apt as the Gengineer intialized the process and the mutate process began.

Laurie's relief as she was placed in the suit, her thoughts of escape afterwards and the possibility of freeing themselves from all this, were short lived as the needles pierced her skin and her senses were overwhelmed. She would have screamed had that been possible but she couldn't think well enough to command her vocal cords, it was with a sense of alarm that she realised she was going to black out, but there was no stopping it now that it had begun, and she went down into the darkness screaming, even if only in her head.

The pain was sharp, blinding, all the more so for it being so long since she'd been able to feel it. Yvette gasped, held immobile in the pod, unable to do more than twitch. Her last thought before she lost the ability to do so was for Sarah, who she'd tried to protect and failed.