"Hey, Stampler, I know you're awake in there." The masked guard impatiently strikes his baton against the glass wall of the cage which is holding one of their most dangerous prisoners.
"I wasn't trying to sleep. I was simply trying to spend some quality time with the voices. And how many times have I told you my name is not Stampler, it's Rissy?"
The guard rolls his eyes and pushes a button that opens the holding cell 'Rissy' lays in.
"Time for lunch. Come on, you know the drill."
The guard holds out the electric shock muzzle that Marissa lovingly calls, "Shocky."
Marissa Stampler rolls out of her cot, wincing as she catches her burned cheek on the starchy cotton sheets. Sheets that are still stained in blood and other fluids that have drained from her face earlier times Shocky fulfilled its purpose.
The guard notices her brief expression of pain and feels no remorse.
"You know, if you would just behave, we wouldn't be forced to hurt you and burn your ugly mug even more than it already is." He steps back a couple of steps when Marissa stands off of her cot and makes for the door.
"Ugly mug? Didn't anyone ever tell you that beauty is in the eye of the beholder?" Marissa steps out of her cage, ignoring her reflection, choosing not to take a gander at the burns and scars that paint mouth and cheeks. The guard straps the portable cage on her scarred cheeks, after she pushes her brown hair behind her ears. The leather straps creak as the guard adjusts them on the back of her head, none too gently.
Once the guard finishes, Marissa leans forward, into the guard's face.
"And besides, I love Shocky, makes me feel all warm and tingly inside." She lets out a shudder, just thinking of the electricity pumping through her veins.
Marissa and the guard engage in a stare down, her with a maniacal smile on her face, not hindered at all by the muzzle. Him, eyes squinting and hand reaching for the remote control on his belt, in warning.
At last second, his thumb pushes down on the button, triggering a wave of electric shock onto Marissa's cheeks, opening up week old wounds as well as worsening the ones she received the night before. Her mind is completely a blank for ten seconds, not being able to form a single thought over the electric shock frying her brain.
Her head shakes, she feels herself begin to stumble and reaches out an arm to steady herself against the glass behind her. Marissa's whole body is now on fire, her black jumpsuit uncomfortably rubs against her arms as she adjusts herself. There's spit dribbling out of her mouth, among other things, her chest is heaving, and her green eyes are threatening to explode.
The guard only smirks, "I'm glad you like it. I hope you don't mind that we upped the voltage overnight. Wouldn't want you getting too comfortable. Now come on, you're already ten minutes late for lunch. We'll have to cut it short so you make it to your appointment at the lab on time."
Marissa uses her hand to push herself off the glass. Her once spiking energy, now drained by the electric shock. She tries to pick up her feet but they only scuff the floor as they drag her after the guard. After she starts walking again, two more guards flank behind her, holding their powered rifles across their bodies, ready to put her down at any moment.
Marissa chuckles at the display, "There was a time when I required more than three guards. This is just pathetic. And a clear underestimation of my abilities." She scoffs, they have no idea what she's capable of. The low clicking of the rifles the guards are carrying behind her reminds her of a time when she wasn't so...Rissy.
A big man stands behind her, carrying what looked like a gun of some sort that makes a clicking noise whenever it moves around. However, Marissa is more concerned with the man beside her, who has a hand on her shoulder that is meant to be friendly, but feels nothing of the sort.
She ducks her head down, her eyes nervously flit over every detail of the place she's been taken to. Marissa knows her body is shaking, some of it from the fact that whoever these people are, they took her while she was only dressed in her pajamas. Her shirt used to be grey. Now, at least a quarter of it is stained with blood. Her mother's blood.
She screamed when the men barged into her house, shooting her mom and dad as soon as they saw them. Marissa thought they were going to hurt her too as she cowered against her mother's still body, hugging her close, and ultimately staining her once grey shirt, blood red.
Unfortunately for Marissa, they only took her by the arm and said, "She'll do perfectly."
The man's hand on her shoulder tightens it's grip, "It's okay sweetheart, no need to be afraid. We're going to help you."
Marissa slowly looks up at the man guiding her, something that couldn't possibly be called a smile stretches over his face. She has seen a lot of people smile in her sixteen years. This was not a smile. This was the sneer of a wolf.
They seem to arrive at their destination: a door with a large sliding deadbolt across the front. Two more guards stand at the sides of it, also with some sort of gun across their chest. They both nod to the man with the grip on Marissa, allowing him to reach forward with his unoccupied hand and slide the lock out of the way. The lock screeches along the metal of the door, an ominous sound, foreboding of the rough future ahead.
Inside, there are even more guards, but this time, their guns are not for her, they're pointed towards a man sitting on a bench against the wall. His head is down, similar to Marissa's first was. His brown hair hangs over his face, not allowing Marissa to see any part of it. Without him even having to stand up, Marissa can tell this is a very big man.
When something seems to glint off of his left arm, Marissa takes a quick peek. She's in awe of the man before her, he has a metal arm! She's never seen that before.
"Soldier. This is your next mission. I know you have trained many others before and I'm hoping you can do it again."
There's a man off to the side, but obviously not a guard, someone in charge, maybe? He wears a tailored suit and has red hair. A dignified air penetrates the dank room. He seems to be in charge as he's the only one speaking.
"Hello, I don't think we've been allowed the chance to meet. Alexander Pierce." He holds out one of his hands for presumably a handshake. Marissa cowers at the action, but only stands in place, realizing she has nowhere to hide.
"This is your new student soldier, I suggest you get training before she gives herself a heart attack." Alexander Pierce, redacts his hand, turns around, and makes his way out of the room with no more instructions to give.
"She's all yours," the guard behind her says, and shoves her down in front of the big man with the metal arm who has yet to stand up.
The guards make their way out of the room and slide the lock closed behind them. The cold metal of the floor seeps through her pajama shorts icing her skin. The man with the metal arm, stands out of his seat.
"Stand up."
He has a gruff voice. Deeper than any she's heard before, besides that man on the television who seems like he narrates the trailer for every action movie ever.
She looks up at him and sees him towering a foot above her.
"I said, stand up." When she still doesn't follow his orders, he grabs her by the shoulder, just like the guard did, and pulls her to her feet.
"Do what I ask of you and this can be easier on both of us."
He notices her limbs shaking from fright, "What do they call you?" He asks.
Marissa pauses for a beat before she answers. When she was younger her mom and dad always told her to not give her name to strangers because they could take her away from home and Marissa wouldn't like that at all. But what's the point of hiding her name if the strangers already took her away?
"Marissa," she quietly answers him. Her voice squeaks as she says it.
"How old are you, Marissa?" The big man feels friendly to her, Marissa doesn't understand why.
"Sixteen." Marissa gives him more information than he asks for, but he doesn't look like he minds.
"Well, you won't be going back to school. I'm going to train you."
"For what?"
"For the rest of your life."
The whirring of a locking mechanism brings Marissa out of her first memory of the man who promised her he wouldn't leave her behind, but ultimately did.
Marissa looks around, seeing they have arrived at the cafeteria.
"You only have ten minutes to eat. Be quick about it. If you're not on time, zap zap."
The guard who holds the remote control pushes her into the lunch room.
Marissa looks around the pristine cafeteria tables and over to the not so pristine cafeteria food, then says to herself, "Just another day in paradise."