Author: Hardguy Title: L (Work in Progress) Summary: The following story is a work in progress and is presented as is. It may be unformatted, contain misspellings, poor grammar, half constructed thoughts, and continuity errors. Story title may be misleading, as the plot may change during the writing process from the initial inspiration. If anything, it is presented in an effort to gauge reader interest. Keywords: ggbb, medical, sci-fi, mast, experiment, growth, violence ===================================================================== L. That was what we called her. She didn't have a name given to her by a mother, nor did she have a history to speak of that gave her an identity. She had a number: F23987XXL, and it was from that last character that we identified her in shorthand as L. F was her gender, 23987 her batch, XX her chromosomes, and L the sequence in which she had been produced. It stood not for the 12th letter of the alphabet, but for the number 50 represented in Roman numerals. L was the 50th and final specimen of her batch, and as we all soon learned, the most special. Her genetics were perfect, almost pristine. So many of her batch had developed abnormalities such as extra toes or fingers, ambiguous genitalia, crippled, missing, or extra limbs, heterotaxia, been "born" blind or deaf or quite simply dead. XLIX, or the specimen preceding her, was one of the most bizarre, with hands and feet trading places and an arrangement of facial features so abnormal and disturbing that few could look at it without retching, and many were relieved that it did not survive the first week of acceleration. As per protocol, once gestation was complete, development was accelerated over a period of 90 days to pubescence, and then allowed to proceed at a natural rate. Of the 50 specimens of batch 23987, 45 were gestated successfully, 38 survived transition out of the artificial womb, 31 responded positively to acceleration, 20 showed signs of consciousness after 30 days, 12 reached 60 days, 4 reached 90, and only 2 proved to be sound of both body and mind. XXXVI and L. L and her brother, VIctor, were docile and obedient from the moment they awoke from the final acceleration phase. Though Victor showed signs of alarm and fear at the violence exhibited by both XXIII and X once their restraints were removed, L stayed the perfect picture of calm, barely even seeming to notice when the unfortunate researcher's dismembered arm hit the wall beside her head, missing by only centimeters and spattering her face with blood. She did not flinch or cover her ears when the alarms sounded and security rushed in to subdue X, and she did not cry out when X was terminated moments later as the others did. She merely turned to her shocked attending nurse and asked quietly to be fed and changed. At the rate of roughly 1 year of physical development every 9 days, L, Victor, and Isis were still very much infants mentally. The acceleration process generally involved 6 days of isolated physical growth stimulation and one day of mental exercise a week. The majority of deaths occurred during the physical stimulation, when the body would react negatively to the treatment, often due to uneven development physical development, such as rapid organ growth but slow body growth, resulting in torsos rupturing as the organs grew too large to be contained. Those who still survived on the 7th day of the week were brought together for social interaction and instruction in language, mannerisms, and discipline. It was not unusual for altercations between the specimens to result in injury, dismemberment, or death. Victor's hand was broken on day 35 by XVI, and he responded to the assault by tearing off her leg below the knee. All acts of violent assault were reviewed and evaluated the following week, and decisions were made on termination. In Victor's case, he was judged to not be a threat, as he had not been the aggressor and had no prior history of incidents. X had numerous infractions on the social days, but never broke any bones or caused any deaths of the other specimens. He would often provoke the others into fights, but would always subdue them before any serious injury could occur. This made his violent attack on a researcher on day 91 all the more unusual. L was always calm on social days, and was almost judged to be autistic and nearly terminated before observations were made that it wasn't that she didn't interact with the other specimens, but that they did not want to interact with her. The few that did, either through physical touch or shared activities were always submissive to her and would act at her direction or would leave her alone. Even X, who had tried to provoke her into violence, seemed to shrink from her when her gaze would fall on him. XIV was particularly submissive to L, and prior to her termination from the sudden appearance of tumors in her brain on day 76, would spend every moment possible with L, frequently crying out in fits when time came to end the social session. L often took no notice of these outbursts, and following XIV's termination did not seem to even notice her absence. Despite the seeming aura of avoidance that L seemed to give off, she was not completely immune from physical altercations. On day 77, the first social day where XIV was not L's constant companion, XII and XLVII ganged up on L. Neither were particularly vocal, as was fairly common, but they coordinated their actions and XII held L down while XLVII fondled her genitals. Such physical contact was rather common, particularly between specimens of different genders; XII and XLVII were both male (although XII did display some intergender characteristics). Typically researchers would step in to put an end to things, but this time Victor intervened first by pushing XII away and allowing L to get away from XLVII. With Victor acting as something like a bodyguard, the assailants moved away, only to repeat their actions against Isis. Researchers delayed intervening to see if Victor would stop them, but he took no action a second time. In the physical examination following the assault, L showed no signs of trauma either physically or mentally. Isis however showed clear signs of sexual arousal and would habitually masturbate thereafter on social days and following the end of acceleration. XLVII would be terminated following a deadly assault on II, another female, on day 84, and XII would terminate on day 88. Though she was only 91 days old, L had twice the vocabulary of Victor and Isis, and far greater dexterity than either of them. L excelled in all physical tests, only Victor was stronger, and Isis more developed despite being the same age. All three exhibited heightened senses and reflexes. L was incredibly graceful, a dance instructor's dream. After viewing and practicing an Olympic level gymnastics routine, she not only was able to perfectly replicate it, she stuck landings and corrected mistakes made in the example video. Victor too could exhibit similar control and form over his body, though he had a tendency to rush, aiming more for the end goal than making sure that all the little details were met. Isis, when she was allowed out of isolation, was much more clumsy and awkward when presented with the gymnastics test. Her secondary sex characteristics were already developing and she had reached menarche only days following the end of acceleration, whereas L remained prepubescent. Prior to the end of acceleration specimens were not given clothing to wear, aside from diapers, which they were weened off of by social day 42 or 49. L was a curiousity in this respect as she remained in her diaper all 90 days of acceleration, seemingly ignoring any instructions in toilet use. On day 91 she surprised all researchers by removing her diaper and performing exactly as she had been instructed prior. When clothing was presented, L preferred light colors in selecting dresses and underwear. Victor would wear shirts and socks, but remained nude otherwise. Isis preferred loose fitting tops and socks, but remained nude otherwise. While L and Victor would spend most of their time together following acceleration, when Isis would be allowed to join them, particular attention was paid to interactions between Victor and Isis. Since the two had made the choice to leave their genitals exposed, there was some speculation that sexual activity might take place. As on prior social days, Isis would masturbate in full view of any who wanted to watch. L never seemed to pay attention, instead devoting her time to reading, but Victor began taking notice of Isis and began having erections when she would be near, and experienced a nocturnal emission shortly thereafter, reporting that Isis had formed the basis of the dream. L characteristically seemed uninterested in sexuality, but as was becoming habit for her, surprised everybody when she commented on the scent of fresh semen present around a female researcher. This observation exposed an affair between staff members, both of whom were dismissed. It also further exposed the fact that L knew what semen smelled like in the first place. She revealed that on an almost nightly basis she was being sexually abused by a senior researcher, being made to perform oral sex on his penis and anus while he touched her genitals. He was dismissed from the program, and L suffered no discernable mental or physical harm. ===================================================================== ***This marks the end of current progress on L, as of 25 February 2014.*** Current word count: 1,518 Current page count (in MS Word): 3