White Walls. Every time she looked, all she saw was white walls. If she could paint them, she'd paint them yellow. Bright, and warm.
Claire sat in her bed staring at the ceiling. No fan, just a hanging, mundane lamp. Everything in the room was white. The walls, the bed, the little steel table at the end.
Even her clothes were white. A grey pair of sweatpants and a white long sleeve, and a pair of socks. She furrowed her brow. What was the point of socks without shoes?
Not to mention the oh-so conspicuous inhibitor collar.
She didn't remember how long she sat thinking before the little intercom in her room began to buzz.
"Lunch is now in session. You will have 30 minutes to partake in lunch before returning to your cell," The voice on the speaker said.
Claire rolled her eyes. The same thing, everyday. She could recite the announcement by heart. She got up, brushing down her wrinkled clothes, walking out the door. She walked down a few, similarly white walls before stopping at a door.
"You ready for lunch?" She knocked. she stood against the wall, before a young woman appeared into the doorway.
She was a tall girl, a few inches above Claire. Her skin was sun-kissed and tanned, with long, sleek straight hair with bangs across her face. Her eyes were wide, dark chocolate, and full lips.
"Mia, come on," Claire crossed her arms. "You look fine; It's not a fashion show," Claire started. "If anything, were like a clone catalog."
"Don't call me that," Mia waved one of her hands elegantly. Her voice as elegant and clean cut, something you'd expect a socialite to sound like. " 'Mia'? It's so boring; It's not even vintage."
"Vintage?" Claire raised a brow. "How can a name be vintage?"
Before Mia could say anything, Claire cut her off. "That's not the point. The point is, we're five minutes late for lunch."
"Alright, alright," Mia smiled. "I've just been thinking of new names, that's all."
Claire looked over as they walked together. "A new name?"
"Ya," Mia smiled. "For when where liberated; I like Charlotte Grace, or Ava , or Laurette. What about you?"
Claire narrowed her brows. "I don't think about that," She exhaled. "There's no point."
Mia smiled. "Your such a sourpuss Claire; but, if you ask me, you could totally be a Wendy, or a Lana," She smiled. "Something trendy."
Claire shrugged her shoulders. She'd never thought about leaving, or a life outside. She never thought to optimistically anyway.
The two stood in the lunch line, each served a bowl of chicken and rice soup, and bread. The food itself seemed to have a dreary feel about it; No matter the taste.
They sat alone, among the people who sat at the other tables.
"Maybe i'll be a designer; Or a writer," Mia smiled. "Or maybe even an actress," She dreamed.
"Why are you even considering?" Claire asked. "It's not like they're going to open up the doors with an apology note for keeping us locked up all these years," Claire explained.
"What's wrong with dreaming?" Mia questioned. "I think it's fun."
"It's not good to fill your head with false hope." She scolded.
"But's not a false hope," Mia smiled. She leaned in closer to the table, careful not to let anyone listen in. "I've heard rumors."
"Rumors?" Claire said. She raised a brow in mock interest.
"C'mon Claire. This is serious," Mia whispered, getting even quieter.
"The Adults. They're planning a revolt."
"A revolt?" Claire narrowed her brows. "You can't be serious."
"I am!" Mia yelled. Claire covered her mouth, looking back to see the few glances directed towards them; A few guards only giving nodds.
"Keep it down!" Claire hissed as she turned back to Mia, whom seemed to have kept talking.
"Now, what about a revolt?" Claire asked, more interested.
"Well, Ricky from down the hall was telling me," Mia started.
"Ricky told you?" That man comes up with a new story every week."
"I thought that too, but then Rosa was saying the same thing,"
"Rosa…?" Claire raised a brow. Rosa was one of the most serious people Claire had ever met.
" I know right?!" Mia exclaimed.
"Shh! Claire scolded her friend again.
"If there is a so called revolt, hows it going to happen in the first place?" Claire questioned.
"I don't know; I only heard so much," Mia shrugged. "Although Danny knows more than I do,"
Claire huffed. "I highly doubt Danny knows. He's even more crazy then Ricky"
"No, it's true," Mia contradicted. "Why don't we just ask him?"
Claire raised a brow.
"There are guards everywhere. And Danny doesn't have the best volume control," Claire argued.
"We'll then how about tonight," Mia suggested.
"How?"
"I was hoping we'd get to that," Mia smiled. She whipped out a bobby pin, holding it with great admiration, as if it were a key to the universe.
"A bobby pin?"
"Not just any bobby pin," Mia smiled. "The same bobby pin Courtney used to get out of her room, like, a million times," She smiled.
"Didn't Courtney get sent down to confinement for a month for that?" Claire questioned.
"Well Courtney misused it," Mia reasoned. "It should be used for emergency purposes only," Gretchen smiled.
"Does chasing a rumor really count?"
"I can't think of a more dire situation!"
Claire turned her head to the plastic clock hanging above the cafeteria entrance.
"Fine. But we should stop talking," Claire nodded her head towards the guards, "Bells gonna ring any moment.
"Fine; i'll be by your room around ten tonight-"
a dull ring went throughout the cafeteria. Armed guards walked towards the tables, roughly escorting the 'patients' out of the room. Mia winked towards Claire, before being shoved for being too slow. Claire smiled at her at her friends antics.
Claire sat in her room, patiently waiting for her friend. Her tests ran smoother today then usual. Just a few brain scans.
Sweet.
She looked over to the little mirror, staring at the bit of her face that the mirror's reflection caught.
She looked at her wall, plain and white.
She worried about getting hopeful; It always became a disappointment. If what Gretchen said was true though, perhaps, just this once, she'd picture the room yellow. With a cute little table with a vase of bright flowers; blues and purples, maybe even some orange.
She'd picture her parents. She didn't remember much of what they where like, but she remembered there faces; Most of them, anyway.
Psst!
Claire turned to face her down, getting up from her bed.
"I can't believe it," She whispered.
"Surprised?" Mia smiled. "Or just really impressed?"
Claire smiled. "Both,"
Claire could hear the little clicks as Mia unlocked the door.
Click
Mia gently pushed the door open, before motioning for Claire to come out.
Claire looked around the hallway, before her boy appeared outside.
"What room is Danny's?" Claire asked.
"It's in the seventh wing," Mia explained.
"That only to two down," Claire nodded.
Both the girls heads snapped as they heard footsteps coming down the hall.
"Lets hurry!" Mia whispered, the two racing to the other hallway.
The two carefully ran down the hallway, leaning against every corner before darting forward.
They were light on their toes, careful not to alert the guard patrolling the hallways.
They finally reached the tenth hallway, looking erratically into each door, before finally finding the Danny's.
Mia crouched, picking the lock as quickly as she could. She heard it snap, grabbing Claire's wrist and pulling the two in as quickly as she could.
Claire looked around the room; Danny sat on her bed, and a stranger sat on the floor beside him.
"Who's this?" Mia pointed to him.
"This guy?" Danny looked at him. "That's Charlie,"
The guy looked up at the two girls. He was pale, with light eyes, and dyed black hair. If he'd hadn't been wearing the same thing as everyone else, he'd probably be like a skater dude or something.
"Charlie Wattkins," The boy raised his hand, introducing himself.
"It's nice to meet you Charlie," Mia smiled. She smiled at him for a moment, before remembering why she had come. "I'm Mia, and this is Claire."
The two girls sat on the floor, crossing legs.
"So, tell me what you know about the revolt," Mia asked.
Danny smiled. "My friend Charlie here is gonna lead the way!"
"What?"
Danny rubbed his new friends shoulders.
"This guys inhibitor collar doesn't work!"
Both the girls looked surprised.
"How?!"
"My powers," Charlie started. "I have the power to control electricity. I short circuited the collar before they could activate it,"
"That amazing," Mia murmured.
"I know!" Danny smiled. "Anyway we got some big plans!"
"Like what?" Claire asked, genuinely curious.
"Well," Danny started. "Charlie here is gonna bust up our collars," Danny explained, "And then, we riot,"
"That's it?" Claire questioned.
"It's perfect," Mia said, looking towards Charlie,
"Whats wrong with that?" Danny questioned.
"We can't just riot. We need a plan," Claire argued. "We need plans!"
"Like what?" Danny asked.
"Well..." Claire shrugged. "Let me think..."
"So, Charlie, how'd you get here?" Mia asked.
"..."
"I'm sorry; If you don't wanna talk about it, I totally understand," Gretchen apologized.
There was an awkward silence in the room.
"I was hanging out with the wrong crowd," charlie said. "We got caught one day. I tried to zap out way from the jail cell; the ones all electronic and junk. Well, I guess I wasn't very conspicuous; they caught me and next
thing I know, i'm being sent up to this place,"
"Oh," Mia whispered, "I'm sorry,"
"it's fine,"
"What about you," Charlie asked, "how'd you end up here?"
"Well, um," Mia looked up at the wall.
"My foster mother didn't care too much for superhero's,"
...
"And you?" charlie finally turned to Claire.
"My parents sent me to cheap Metropolis Institute for the 'gifted'," Claire replied. "Then they sold me out for fund money,"
"Well, you all know my story," Danny chimed in. "I was just 'chillin with my crew and BAM! The cops are all up on us, chasing us and junk!" Danny sat up from his bed, his body animated.
"Then they figured out you were a private school kid?" Mia retorted. Both her and Claire laughed.
"Ya well, I could take on cops any day," Danny huffed. "Anyway, we should focus on the tasks at hand; We need a plan,"
Claire pulled herself away from her thoughts.
"Why don't we riot?"
The others raised a brow.
"I thought that was a 'bad idea'?" Danny quoted.
"I mean as a distraction," Claire explained.
"Oh,"
"Here's what i'm thinking," Claire started. "First, Charlie here will disable our collars. Then, Mia will use her powers to investigate."
"And then what?" Danny asked.
"Then we'll figure it out from there," Claire said. She looked over to Charlie. "Can you do it?"
Charlie nodded silently. He got up, standing behind Mia. He places his hands on the collar and after few sharp buzzing sounds, he pulled away.
"Try it,"
Mia smiled at him, before standing up. She stretched, before closing her eyes and concentrating.
Claire watched as her friend went completely invisible.
"Can you guys see me?"
"It worked!" Danny smiled. "This is so cool!"
Claire smiled as Charlie worked on her collar.
She raised her hand, before a small flame rose from her palm.
"Thank you,"
Claire turned to Mia.
"You'll stack your pillows under your blanket tonight," she said. "Then investigate. We'll meet up again tomorrow night, here,"
Mia and Claire got up to leave. Claire held Mia's hand, the two turning invisible as they walked down the halls and corridors.
"So i'll see you tomorrow,"Mia smiled.
"Ya,"
Mia turned to leave, but quickly turned back to her friend.
"I've never seen you so excited,"
Claire blushed, turning away.
"I'm not. I just think we have a good chance,"
Mia laughed quietly at her friend.
"Right."
Claire sat in her bed, anxiously waiting. She couldn't wait to hear what Mia had to tell them. Did she find anything? Was there hope? Was there no hope? The questions were killing her.
Finally she heard Mia working her magic lock picking skills.
"Mia!" Claire felt excitement tingling throughout her body. "What'd you find out?"
"I'll tell you when we get to Danny's,"
The four of them sat in a circle. Mia held up a drawing of squares and shapes.
"Anyway, we're here," She pointed to a large square attached to rectangles, and more squares. "Here's the corridors and rooms,"
"I didn't realize the place was so big," Danny looked over the drawing in fascination.
"Anyway, this room has a huge central computer here," Mia pointed. "This whole place is run on that computer,"
Claire looked at the map. She studied it for a moment, before nodding.
"I have an idea." She pointed to the corridors, "Tonight, Charlie and will go around and disable everyone's collar. There are 40 at the institute; 10 corridor's, 4 rooms each. Tomorrow, we riot,"
"But, there's like, 100 something guards," Danny argued. "And they all got lasers and stun gun and junk,"
"I know," Claire continued, "Mia will cause a distraction. Charlie and I will sneak out to the main computer when no one's looking. From there, will disable the security system; those giant metal doors will be open, and
the lights will go out" Claire said.
She turned to Charlie."And if you can send out a frequency though the computer, we'll be able to shut down their high tech weapons," She explained. "If you can do it."
Charlie simply nodded.
The four of them got up, ready to leave.
"Now, Mia and Charlie, head to the first five corridors and short out there collars, and explain to them the plan"
Mia blushed faintly and Charlie merely nodded.
"Danny, come with me," Claire turned to him. "I'll try to melt the collars,"
"What if you can't?" Mia asked.
"Then Charlie will just have to work longer."
Claire quietly waited at the lunch table for the signal. She hadn't touched her food, she was too nervous to eat.
She looked around. Only a few of the guards were in the lunch
She looked for Mia, before looking back at the clock. Her mind was filled with anxiety and doubt, the whole was-
"Get your hand off me!"
Mia violently pulled away from the guards, one had sandwich smeared all over his helmet.
"You can't do this! It was an accident!"
A crowd formed around Mia and the guards who tried to restrain her. They booed and threw themselves at the guards.
Claire turned to Charlie, who snuck his way around the circle of people. He and Claire quietly walked out the door, before running down the hallway.
"Hurry!" Claire shouted. "I can hear reinforcements!"
They ran faster until the reached the main computer room. Charlie put his hand on the pass code lock. It clicked, before a little puff of smoke emerged and the door opened.
They ran inside, finding the main computer. Claire moved aside for Charlie, who placed his hands on the hard drive.
"Stop!"
Claire turned to see a few guards trudge into the room,
"Hurry Charlie!" She turned, only to see him being ripped away from the from the computer and pulled out the room.
"No-!" Claire screamed, her mouth covered by a guards hand. She struggled, biting down on his hand to escape.
He grabbed her wrist, as she desperately stretched to grab onto the computer. "No!" She screamed.
She could feel intense anger in the pit of her stomach. It felt as if her whole body was on fire, swirling threw her veins.
"NO!"
Her body glowed like fire and a ring of bright light emanated from her body.
BOOM!
A bright light was all she remembered.