Chapter Nine

 

“And at the Keep, they let you visit the prisoners?” I asked.

“Yep! If we couldn’t do what we wanted, that would make us like you guys, wouldn’t it?” May asked me. I smiled, lowering my head and voice.

“There is no difference.”

“Guys, let’s give this one a little more time to get adjusted, okay?” the guard guarding my cell instructed the two. “She’s probably had a long day.”

They nodded and walked off. Without looking at the guard, I verbally thanked him.

“Just followin’ orders.”

 

Before the time came to eat, I had time to think. I thought about my mission failing. If I couldn’t come up with a way out, there would have been no point to any of it. I knew Fiberglass dragging me here was advantageous because it’s where I wanted to go next, but the collars made this difficult. Rightfully so, I guess. 

If I could just find a way to get the collar off, or find a way for it to malfunction, I could kill everyone in the facility. I wondered if any of the other prisoners had some sort of electricity or technopathic power. But, I’d need to find a way to get the collar off them, first. Then I thought about the kids from the Keep. I wasn’t aware of what their abilities were or if they had friends of the Keep that could have something that could help me. It would certainly be ironic; one of their own being the catalyst for their downfall. The gloomy kid’s gloves caught my eye. 

But, if I were to go that route, I’d need to find a way to have physical contact with them. Or really anyone else. I wasn’t sure how the jailing system worked here; if we’d ever be allowed out of our cells.

I would be, but not for a humane reason.

As soon as I finished my food, I heard footsteps approaching. Slightly raised shoes headed past all the other cells to reach mine. There were other footsteps accompanying it, but these stood out the most. It was Asai.

She stopped in front of my cell, one hand on her hip. Without even prompting the guards she brought, or Cobbs or Price, I was snatched out of my cell, handcuffed with a sack thrown over my head, and dragged into an unmarked room.

It was dingy, gray, unfinished. Cement walls. One light flickered and swayed on a string from the ceiling in the center. There was a tool bench to my right from where I was sitting and cuffed. It had a gang of tools laid out ready to be used on me to talk. 

So much for being overly kind, I thought. 

“Listen,” Asai said, bending over and keeping her eyes level with mine. “Make this easy for everyone here.”

“I don’t even know what this is about,” I told her, truthfully. She exhaled and stood straight up, looking down at me.

“I’m only gonna ask this once: Who do you work for?”

I could have answered “myself” here easily and immediately ended this little interrogation session hours in advance, but I didn’t want that. I wanted them to give me an even more valid reason to kill them. Their kindness was jarring to me, and I wanted them to act like how I saw them: monsters. 

After waiting a few seconds for my answer, the HBIC stepped back to where Cobbs and Price stood and let a masked, unnamed guard approach me from behind with pliers.

“You’re all too afraid to get your hands dirty, huh?” I asked. “Oh, but you’ll watch like you didn’t give the order. Fucking cowards.”

Asai held up a hand before the guard went to work on my fingernails. 

“It’s also cowardly if you use your abilities for selfish reasons. Not everyone survives the serum process, so the fact that you’ve survived one and used your powers to go about killing important people is cowardly,” she said. 

“It is cowardly to not give up who I work for?” I asked, with a smirk.

“I guess not,” she said waving her hand. “So brave this.”

The guard started with pulling off my fingernails one at a time. Then, as those bled, he broke my fingers. After, he moved on to a sledgehammer. I wondered where he would swing it. Across my face? Top of my head? Ribs? No. Kneecaps. Both. He moved on to a drill and pierced non-vital areas with it. Shoulders, palms of my hands, feet. 

The worst part of it--or perhaps the part that made this easier--was the fact that the collar was stopping my regeneration, so they couldn’t do something, wait for me to regenerate, then do it again. I screamed not once. Instead of being present at the interrogation mentally, my mind was focused on my brother and what these fuckers released upon him. That and using this as fuel to kill them even harder once I escaped kept me alive. 

I had had enough.

“Myself.”

Asai flung up a hand and the torturer stopped.

“I…work for…myself,” I admitted. 

“So then you’re the only one that may be able to tell me why you did any of it?” Asai questioned. I gritted my teeth and glared up at her from under my brows.

“My brother.”

“Ah. A family member,” she said. “And what happened to him?”

“Your heroes…during your fucking TRANING with the aliens DESTROYED the apartment building we lived in. He and everyone else in it died,” I told her. 

“I’ll admit,” she began. “Even if you told me where the building was, I’m not sure I’d be able to remember it or even which hero or alien did that. That sort of stuff happens all the time with the Nobles around now. But you can imagine the difficulty of doing that while combating forces just as strong--if not stronger than them. They try their best to save others.” 

My mind immediately shot to the train incident with Apexcel. 

“Do they?”

She didn’t answer me. Instead she just stared before waving her hand around in a circle, signaling for everyone to wrap up. 

My wounds were cleaned and wrapped before I was taken back to my cell. Ache approached the front glass of his cell, eyeing me, keeping his creepy smile pasted on his face. 

“They roughed you up good, huh?” he said. “You end up talking or are you better than that?”

I ignored his questions as my mind drifted to escape. But, I would first need a layout or map of the compound, so there were no surprises around any corner. There were a couple of places I could think of: Asai’s office, Price’s office, or possibly one of those tablets a lot of the employees carried. 

Asai’s office would most likely be the riskiest, as it probably wasn’t even located in the Prison. The tablets could let off some sort of alert should I try to steal one. Plus, I didn’t believe there’d be a reliable way to steal one without being noticed. That would require me to go one-on-one with a guard, and without having access to any of my powers, it might as well be just as big a risk as going for Asai’s office.

That left Price’s office. I remember what he said about resetting the collars and being evaluated before they determine if they should reset it or just kill me. Any of the options I laid out could result in death, however this one seemed like the most plausible. Why? I had the advantage of killing someone close to him. Based on what the guard told me and what he told me himself, I’m guessing one of the people I slaughtered was close to him at one point or another. 

I stood up, keeping my head lowered so my hair flowed in front of my eyes and attempted to activate my powers. The collar beeped and, as promised, needles crept out of tiny slots on the inside. I smirked. This invention was pretty innovative. I guessed Dr. Daichi had something to do with its creation, since it counteracted his creation. Shame. 

I attempted again. This second beep got my guard’s attention. And also the unwanted attention of my cell neighbor, Ache. 

“Up to something, eh?” he said.

“H-Hey! Knock it off!” my guard demanded. I attempted again. The needles reached ever closer. By the time the guard got into my cell and snatched me out to drag me towards Price’s office, the needles had just barely pierced my skin, causing blood to begin leaking. 

I put together that my guard was new to the facility like I was. His disciplining with being rough with me when I first arrived. And the crippling fact that he forgot to handcuff me as he dragged me. I wouldn’t take advantage of this just yet.

Strange for them to put a new guy on the Noble killer. Or did they have something else up their sleeve? Were they making it seem like they were incompetent so I let my guard down? Did they have a trump card of some sort? Then the thought crossed my mind of the kids of the Keep being able to assist should I attempt to escape. I didn’t know if I had it in me to kill any of them. Or worse. Would the villains be allowed to help restrain me in exchange for a reduced sentence?

As we approached the Captain’s office, my plan to do anything with my hands went out the window. 

“Why isn’t the prisoner handcuffed?” one of the two guards guarding Price’s office questioned.

“Rookie mistake, sir,” my guard responded. I was correct. “But, I’m here to bring her to Price for reevaluation. She tried to use her powers a few times.”

“Get some cuffs on her before you get her inside,” the other guard said.

“Sir!”

I was then cuffed and brought inside. Price had two more guards standing behind him at his desk. 

“Hm? What’s this?” the captain asked. He looked at my collar, then glared at me. “What are you trying?”

“I tried to see if you were bluffing about these collars,” I said. “Guess you weren’t.”

He paused and continued to scan me. He was looking for any twitches or sudden movements to indicate I was lying. I wouldn’t give it to him. It’s not like I really could. 

“And you didn’t think to stop after the second try?” he asked. Why the second? 

“I was pissed off. I’m currently pissed off at my situation. For being caught,” I answered. I looked down, putting on a full performance. “The more I tried, the more I realized my situation was hopeless.”

“You sound like you regret what you’ve done.”

“Maybe.”

A brief pause.

“Did he suffer?” Bingo. I didn’t answer. “Did Anthony suffer?”

Anthony. Anthony Welsh. Asai read his name off on the list of people I’ve killed. Dr. Daichi’s other guard. The one with the shapeshifting arms.

“Anthony…” I pretended like I was trying to remember. “Anthony…Anthony…”

“Welsh!” he shouted. The first time I’d heard him raise his voice. “Anthony Welsh. He had cybernetic arms. ‘Cause of me.”

“Oh…that guy,” I said. I couldn’t help but wickedly grin underneath my hair. “I made SURE he did.”

Price’s eyes widened and his jaw puffed from him gritting his teeth. I had him.

“After his fruitless attempts to cut me after killing his doctor boss, I let my black ice loose on those cold, metal arms and made sure they were useless just like before he got them,” I said. I’ll admit I was embellishing a bit. “After his beautiful screams of agony, I temporarily paralyzed him, sending an ice spike through his lower back, then extending it so it pierced his forehead. His body twisted and twitched. I’m sure he was alive for a brief few seconds, prolly wondering where his military buddy was and why he wasn’t there to save him…from me!”

“You BITCH!” he shouted, withdrawing his Berretta that he kept on him. If I didn’t act fast, this would be the end. But, not having my normal reaction time would likely result in death. 

“SIR!” my guard shouted. “If I may speak, remember what you taught me about showing kindness to the villains. How aggression would only fuel the fire. Make things worse.”

This dumb fuck might’ve just saved me. 

“She’s clearly not okay, but I don’t think she’s a danger to anyone here. Just releasing whatever amount of power she thinks she has here,” my guard continued. “Let that go and it’s hopeless for her.”

After him saving me, I was considering sparing his life. But after that last thing, no.

Price put away his sidearm and nodded. “...You’re right. I don’t know what came over me.”

“Grief, sir.”

If that was the case, he wouldn’t overcome it so easily. I still had an advantage.

Price stood and stepped in front of me, reaching for my collar. The guards, including mine, raised their weapons and aimed them at me. An interesting turn of events for sure. This was my out. In order to retract the needles, Price most likely needed to reset the collar, which would give me a second of no power negation. That’s all I needed. 

Okay, but let’s say the other prisoners had tried this before. To do something in the second they were given, which is highly likely, just given the personality of Ache. What made me any different? Again, Price’s grieving. Unless this was an act, he would be distracted by the visual of his buddy’s corpse that I gave him. 

Now, what was I to do in the second I was given? Again, anything with my hands was out of the question, so I would likely have to try something new. 

Price raised his hands to my collar, the guards’ trigger fingers were itching, and I was as calm as could be.

As he pressed the button and the needles began to retract, I coated my neck in black ice before causing part of it to shoot out and break the collar around my neck. Freedom. Everything was back to “normal” as I saw Price’s shocked face move in slightly slow motion. I decided to do something with him while I was still cuffed, as I wasn’t aware of what his abilities were, if he had any.

I felt ice rise through my chest and throat before I hurled it out of my mouth onto his face. I just breathed ice as if I were an ice dragon. I wondered what I couldn’t do. Price shouted and grabbed his own face, lowering to the ground and the guards opened fire on me. 

I created ice from the bottom of my feet and slid around the rookie, who got lit up by Price’s two guards at his desk. While behind the dying rookie, I froze and shattered my cuffs before flash freezing the two guards at the desk. I heard the door swing open behind me and I turned and flash froze the two guards coming in as well. I looked in the room for cameras, but didn’t see any. Perhaps there were hidden cameras, but I didn’t have time to search. 

As Price continued to choke on the black ice burning and freezing his face, I pushed the two guards at the door further inside the office so we could have a little more privacy. I approached Price and kneeled down next to him, putting my finger under his chin and lifting his head.

“Now, I know you care for your comrades, so if you tell me what I want to know, I might spare them. Where is the map to the facility? I know you have one in here,” I demanded. Price coughed and pointed at his desk. I walked around and rummaged through a few drawers before finally finding one permanently displayed on a tablet. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

After saying this I shattered the two guards behind his desk each with a punch. Price tried to yell, but he couldn’t as the ice spread more across his face and down his throat. 

“Remember, I said ‘might’,” I repeated. I shattered the guards at the door as well before turning to Price himself. “Since you miss your buddy so much, I’ll send you to him.”

I sent an ice spike from the floor through his forehead like I did Arkillery and I turned to walk out when I heard him cough and sputter some more. I turned to see he was still alive. He snapped off the ice spike and his wound healed. 

“Hmmm…” I said aloud, as I froze him in place, then added even more ice to make sure he stayed put. I didn’t have the time to deal with someone with regeneration at the moment. 

Then, I finally stepped outside and looked around to see no one in sight. I looked down and plotted where I would head next. I thought it might help to release the villains captured here, should they side with me. So my next stop was the cells to release The Advocate, Aura Ray, Vulcon, Detonade, Infracon, Vice, and the extremely creepy Ache.