Control Subject

The air inside the vault was stagnant, cold despite the heavy stone pressing in around them. Olivia’s laptop screen cast an eerie glow, the only light in the chamber.

Jessica barely heard Leanna and Olivia flipping through files, whispering about classified research, old Vanguard projects long buried. She was still staring at the monitor, at the frozen image of herself from the past.

"I don’t know how many of us there are. But I know they don’t let us live for long.”

The words echoed in her skull, fracturing against her already unstable grip on reality.

Leanna’s voice broke through the haze. “Jess. Look at this.”

Jessica blinked, turning toward them. Leanna was holding a file, its cover faded but intact. Not Vanguard-issued. Something from before them.

Jessica took it, flipping it open. The first page had a name.

Dr. Eleanor Whitmore.

Beneath it, an address. Rome.

Jessica’s heartbeat quickened. This wasn’t just another scientist. She had been there before.

* * * 

The house was a forgotten ruin swallowed by time. Paint peeled from the walls, ivy curling into the cracks of stone. The shutters hung loose, swaying gently in the evening breeze.

Every step toward the front door made her skin itch. She wasn’t just chasing answers anymore. She was dragging decades of betrayal behind her like a weight. If this woman really helped build Vanguard, then she didn’t just create the program. She helped destroy Jessica’s life. The thought made her hands ball into fists before she even touched the doorknob.

Jessica didn’t knock. She pushed the door open, the old wood creaking as it gave way.

Inside, the air was thick with dust, books stacked in precarious towers along the walls. A single candle flickered on a nearby table. And in the shadows beyond it, a woman watched them. Jessica barely had time to register the figure before the woman spoke.

“You shouldn’t have come.”

Jessica’s stomach twisted. The calm in Whitmore’s voice was unbearable. Like she was welcoming back a lost experiment, not facing the consequence of a ruined life. Jessica felt the heat rising in her chest, tight and white-hot. Was that pity in the woman’s eyes? Or arrogance? She didn’t know which made her angrier.

The woman stepped forward into the candlelight, her face lined with time but her eyes sharp with something Jessica couldn’t place. Was it recognition or fear?

“You’re real,” she whispered. “I never thought I’d see you again.”

Jessica’s pulse spiked. Again? The words tumbled from her lips before she could stop them. “Who am I?”

Dr. Eleanor Whitmore’s expression didn’t change. “The only one that ever got away.”

Whitmore’s words landed like a slow, surgical incision, controlled and bloodless, but Jessica was bleeding on the inside. Every sentence felt like acid poured into a wound that had never healed. Her vision blurred. She was losing control. She knew it, but she didn’t care.

Jessica lunged before she could think. Rage surged through her, but it wasn’t clean. It was tangled with fear, betrayal, and a sick ache she couldn’t name. She slammed Whitmore against the wall, her voice shaking. “You built this. You built me. Why?”

Olivia stepped closer, visibly shaken. "Jess, wait. Think clearly."

Leanna’s voice hardened protectively, her eyes never leaving Whitmore. "She’s playing mind games. Stay grounded, Jess. We need answers, not revenge."

Whitmore didn’t fight. She just studied her, like an experiment still running.

Leanna took a cautious step forward. “Jess, let her talk.”

Jessica didn’t let go. “Talk.”

Whitmore sighed, almost as if she had expected this. “Vanguard was never about simple identity erasure.” Her voice was steady, even as Jessica’s grip tightened. “That was a necessary step. But not the goal.”

Jessica’s nails dug into Whitmore’s shirt. “Then what was?”

The scientist hesitated, but only for a second. “Replacing people.”

Jessica felt her stomach drop.

Whitmore continued, her voice unnervingly calm. “You think Vanguard was just moving assets? Changing names? That was never the real project. The Cold War never ended, Jessica. It just changed shape. The people in charge realized something simple. Ideology is fragile. People change their minds. So the solution was obvious.”

Jessica’s grip tightened. “What solution?”

Whitmore met her eyes. “Erase. Rewrite. Replace.”

Jessica felt like she was falling, even though she hadn’t moved. “You mean to tell me… that Vanguard has been manufacturing people?”

“Not just manufacturing. Installing them. World leaders, military figures, corporate powerhouses. Anywhere they needed control, they put someone in place. Someone they created. Someone loyal.”

Jessica’s vision blurred. The experiment wasn’t about destroying identities. It was about creating them, and she had been one of them.

“Then why me?” Her voice cracked slightly. “Why let me go?”

Whitmore’s gaze darkened. “Because every experiment needs a control test.”

Jessica felt a sharp twist in her gut. The room felt smaller now, like the walls were pressing in.

Leanna’s voice was low, cautious. “You mean she wasn’t supposed to escape.”

Whitmore nodded. “She was supposed to think she escaped.”

Jessica’s breath caught. Her life, her choices, none of it had been hers.

She let go of Whitmore abruptly, stepping back as if burned. She felt sick.

“You were never free,” Whitmore said softly. “Just delayed.”

Jessica’s hands were still shaking. She forced herself to speak. “Then why am I still here?”

Whitmore hesitated. Just for a second. But it was enough. Then: “Vanguard didn’t plan your escape, Jessica.”

Jessica’s pulse roared in her ears. She knew who Whitmore was talking about.

Whitmore sighed, her gaze turning distant. “Vanguard didn’t plan your escape, Jessica. They don’t make mistakes that big.”

Jessica’s voice was ice. “Then how did I get out?”

“Someone let you,” Whitmore said softly. “Someone powerful enough to make the system look the other way. They don’t erase everyone. Some, they hide.”

Jessica staggered back, her world tilting on its axis.

She turned on her heel, storming out of the house, desperate for air. Leanna and Olivia watched her go but didn’t stop her. Not yet.

Outside, the night was cool against her skin. She braced her hands against the stone wall, trying to steady her breathing. She had almost killed Whitmore. Jessica clenched her jaw. She was becoming exactly what Vanguard had tried to create. She wouldn’t let them win.

She exhaled, forcing herself to calm down. Not for them. For herself. Her eyes flicked to the desk inside, to a single, unmarked file.

Her hand moved before she had even made the decision. The file felt warm against her fingers, disturbingly familiar. She hadn’t come here just for answers. She needed proof. Proof that she had been more than a shadow in someone else’s experiment.

She wouldn’t burn the vault. Not yet. She needed to know who had left the door open for her.

"They don’t erase everyone. Some, they hide."

Jessica inhaled. Steadier now.