Hi! If you are seeing this, thank you for making an effort to read my writing. Though I didn't get far with it before, I've decided to rewrite this fanfiction. This time, I will try to upload more regularly, but I make no promises. I hope you all enjoy!
Oh, and also, there will be a lot of swearing, so be prepared.
~Renee
P.s. Maire is pronounced My-ra
"What about the 'volunteers'?" Through the shuffling of the people outside in the corridor, two men came closer towards me. One, strangely enough, was wearing a black outfit with a monocle, while the other was wearing a gray coat over his suit. The one who had asked the question was the one in the coat.
Curious and spiteful, I strained myself to eavesdrop on the rest of the two men's conversation over the clatter surrounding them. If I could find out some answers, maybe I could find an escape for me and my brother, maybe even get some good, old fashioned revenge on the way out.
"The dead," Mr. Monocle said in his repugnant accent. "Will be buried so deep their ghosts won't be able to find them." I swallowed the shudder that tried to run its icy fingers up my spine. It would do know good if the d-bags knew I could hear them, but I couldn't help but think of the people that had 'voluntarily' been subject to the deadly torture that had raked its scythe through the pool of victims. I didn't know what those people had signed up for, or if they even had volunteered, but I could be absolutely sure they hadn't put 'getting poked with a deadly, blue, glow-spear' in the information pamphlet.
The dick monkey in the overcoat paused. "And the survivors?"
Monocle man's face lit up like it was his birthday, staring creepily into mine and the two others' cells. "The twins," he said. "Sooner or later, they will meet the twins." As if on cue, the man in the adjacent cell to mine began crashing into the walls. I winced as I heard the clang of him kicking his bed. It had to have hurt even more than if would have since he was going nearly as fast as the speed of sound.
I tried to focus more on Speedy's sister instead, now that the two asshats outside were close enough that I could have heard them without straining, but, more importantly, they could see if I flinched over something I shouldn't have been able to sense. Anyways, it was sort of relaxing the way she was floating the blocks around, sometimes gently clacking into each other.
"It's not a world of spies anymore," the Monocled shithead continued. "Not even a world of heroes. This is the age of miracles, Doctor, and there is nothing more horrifying than a miracle." Suddenly, Witchy smashed the wooden blocks together, making me jump. The ringing in my ears made me hope that the sound would have been loud enough for me to hear normally, and the way that the ass clowns outside kept the same expressions confirmed it.
"What about her?" the suited shit stick asked. "I assume she is special, or she would not be alive."
Monocle Man's face soured, giving me a small amount of satisfaction that he was unhappy. "The experiments put too much strain on her body," He said in his thick, ugly accent. "She was left blinded and mostly unresponsive. Her brother, on the other hand, became comatose after the experiments."
"Why haven't they been dealt with, then? Do they at least show signs of abilities?" The way the 'Doctor' said 'dealt with' left an ugly swirl of dread in my gut. Hopefully, if I got out of here, I could knock a few teeth out of his smarmy head while I was at it. No, correction, when I got out of here, because I was going to get my brother an I out, even if I had to kill some S.O.B.s on the way.
Monocle man chuckled - legitimately goddamn chuckled - and said, "Does frying the medical bay's equipment seem like a big enough sign for you?" He continued to chuckle into Doctor Dickhead's shocked face before sobering up a little. "In fact, that's why you were transferred here, Doctor, to help fix the equipment and find a way to prevent the subjects from sabotaging our efforts. Also, unfortunately, to wake up our electro-techno kinetic, as he exhausted himself into his coma when he zapped the equipment, as well as some of his sister's brain. We believe that the incident may be why she hasn't developed any abilities as the others have."
I curled up on my rough cot, bringing my knees to my chest, and letting my long, curly hair cover my stunned face as I thought that last part through. I vaguely remember thinking at some point in my past, before I ended up here, that I had a crappy memory, and that was why I couldn't remember most things in my past beyond that I had a twin brother and our names were Maire and Kodiak Volkov. It also didn't help that I was in stressful conditions and didn't have much time to think about my past, but I still thought I should have remembered more. I guess I had an answer to that situation, though it didn't really solve much else.
Even with that stressful revelation, I still drew some satisfaction from the fact that I had still managed to hide my abilities from these douche canoes. I might not be able to 'see', but I could still 'see'. By that, I mean that I can feel sound and light waves and vibrations in mediums, making it impossible for me to not be able to sense something, right down to the tiniest detail. It was pretty badass, if I do say so myself, and I do, but it is overwhelming most of the time compared to when I only had human sight before. At least one good thing came out of this whole 'getting kidnapped and tortured' fiasco.
"Do you think we should start experimenting on her again, just to see if we can get more data for a future reference?" Asked the 'Doctor'. I involuntarily clenched my fists in my sheets at the mention of getting poked, prodded, shocked, or some other form of torture, again. I didn't know if I could deal with going back into that lab covered in the blood of those that had died from the torture that I still had to endure. The thoughts of suicide were not foreign to me, especially in this hell hole that seemed to have no escape, but I couldn't leave Kody here to suffer, and I would rather survive so we could go home, wherever that was.
"No," Monocle Man said. "She would not be useful to us if she had powers, but could not use them to our advantage because of her new found disability." I was slightly relieved that I wasn't going to have to go back into the lab. "No, instead…" he trailed off slightly, thinking, probably about some morbid and ancient torture techniques he would use on me and crushing my fickle hope. "Instead, we could use her in order to force her brother to comply, after he wakes up. After all, you've seen that a subject without a mind of his own will eventually go astray."
I could feel the blood leaving my face and my gut wrenching. Well, I wasn't wrong about what he was thinking.
"Yes, well, I should probably start working on my objective here," the Doctor said somewhat awkwardly.
"Yes," Monocle agreed. "I will show you the way while you are still getting acquainted here." With that, they turned and left the hallway, heading towards where the lab was, leaving me to my hurried thoughts and the shuffling of the soldiers in the corridor.
I had to get out of here soon, if not for my own hide, then to save Kody from having me be tormented because of him. I still, luckily, had my trick up my sleeve. I don't know how it would help, though. Maybe I could wait until the coast was clear and take the halls with no people, but what would I do when there was nowhere for me to go without being seen?
"You want to leave?" I heard right next to me. I flinched and swung my arms around me, flailing to subdue the disembodied speaker. I felt the girl in the cell next to mine giggle, making me draw the conclusion that Witchy had mind powers, too.
"Yes, and I would appreciate it if you stayed out of my head," I snapped out loud, thinking of no other way to talk to her.
"You were projecting your thoughts very loudly," she said patiently. "I didn't even try to use my powers, I just heard the basics of what you were thinking."
"Then you should know why I want out," I grunted out through my teeth. This conversation was getting very vexing in record times.
"You don't understand. I got an impression that you wanted to leave, and you want to do it soon. Nothing more. Also, there is no one to talk to besides my brother, and though I love him, he can get very boring after talking to him, and, nearly, only him for so long."
"Oh… okay?" I replied awkwardly, still somewhat annoyed. I guess that it would be better to make friends with the other radioactive torture victims. We could all work toward the common goal of getting the hell out of dodge, using our new powerpuff-esque abilities. "To answer your question with another question; Why the hell would I want to stay in this shit-hole?"
"Didn't you volunteer for this?" Witchy asked, sounding confused in my head. I laughed dryly at her stupidity.
"Why, on God's green Earth, would I ever volunteer for this?!" I sighed when she clammed up.
Wait, if she was asking me…
"Did you volunteer?" I asked softer, almost horrified. She sent the mental equivalent of a nod, confirming my horror. "Why?"
"Strucker promised those of us that volunteered would become stronger. Strong enough to protect our country, families, and friends, and, more importantly, strong enough to get revenge," she said quietly, gaining an edge at the last phrase.
I didn't like the tone she used at the last part, sounding ominous and malicious. I sounded like she was planning to go down a dark path she was going to regret. I sound like she wanted to do the same thing to the person who wronged her as they had done to her.
Hesitatingly, I asked, "Revenge?" She didn't respond. I knew I should have just shut my trap when I heard the tone of her voice. I sighed, getting ready to apologize for bringing up something that was none of my business, when she continued.
"When my brother, Pietro, and I were little, we would always eat dinner with our mother and father. I set the table, mother cooked while father was on his way home from work, and Pietro washed the dishes. Every single day, without fail, this was our routine. But then, one day, Father was just walking in the door, taking off his coat, when there was this weird noise. None of us knew what it was, but then, from down the block, we heard this huge boom and the house started to shake.
"Pietro managed to pull me under the table, but we could get our parents in time. The first shell hit and it collapsed the building, burying our parents alive, and nearly crushing us, too. Then, a second shell falls, but it doesn't go off. It lands right in front of our noses, but it doesn't explode. We didn't move, too scared it would go off if we even breathed too hard. So, all we could was sit and wait for help or for the bomb to go. We sat there for two days, smelling our parents' bodies rotting under a wall, and staring at two words on the side of that bomb; Stark Industries."
For the longest time, all I could do was sit there and gape, stunned by what these two had gone through. Struggling, I closed my mouth and bowed my head.
"I shouldn't have asked about that," I finally said, regretfully. "I'm sorry that I brought that back up for you."
"No, no," she said in a small voice. "It feels good to tell someone that cares. The only other people I've told that to are the people we volunteered for, and that was just so they could have a background file on us."
We sat there in an awkward silence for a little while before I realised something. "Hey, I never learned your name, and I can't keep calling you 'Witchy' in my head," I said trying to lighten the grim cloud that had settled over us. "It starts to sound a little childish after a while."
She chuckled a little. "My name is Wanda. I already told you my brother's. What about your name?"
"My name is Maire, and my brother's is Kody. I'm sure it would be a pleasure to meet you if it had been under different circumstances."
"Likewise," Wanda said.