The clothes that Alice had given you were less than acceptable, and you demanded that she allow you to wear the ones you came in: a quarter-sleeve shirt and pants that stopped halfway down your calves, all in a calm, gray tone. When a matching pair of flats were handed to you to cover your feet, you threw them back, barking that you only ever go around barefoot.
"Why would you do that? Won't you get worms or something?"
"I don't get worms. Worms get me."
These imbeciles knew nothing of who you were. They obviously had never even bothered to read your records that St. Thaddeus's had sent over. If they ever even did send them over. Sending over those records would chance this institution snitching on the government and revealing their little secret experiment, which they didn't want. Why would they want the world to know they were trying to create human nuclear bombs?
Before you even bothered to go to this little "meeting" with the warden, you demanded a scenery change for your room. A mirror, for starters. It took a few minutes, but Alice had found a salvageable mirror from another inmate's room, one that had apparently died earlier in the week. She had cracked a joke about it being haunted by the spirit of the dead inmate as the mirror was being installed on the wall, saying that if you said his name three times he would jump out of the mirror and cut your head off. You ignore the pathetic attempt for attention and stare at your reflection in the mirror. What looked back at you was the pale, hollow face of a test subject. Your cold, blue eyes stared into your soul, a soul that served no purpose. You had no soul, no moral compass, no care for anyone else other than yourself. For many years, you only cared about surviving.
Your eyes traced the lines of the tattoos adorning your skin. A black marquis with a star at the center sat on your forehead; black tear marks started from the inner corner of your eyes and swirled down to the outer corners of your mouth; a thick, black line ran from under your bottom lip to the top of your chin, with two crescent moons placed on the either side; a large, black tribal marking covered the entirety of the top of your bald head (you lost your hair in "the accident"); and on the back of your head was your most prized tattoo: the Grim Reaper wielding his scythe, his bony, featherless wings extending around your head like a laurel wreath of the Roman emperors. The tattoos were purely decorative, serving no purpose other than to intimidate your victims. You raise a hand to touch your face, your slender fingers caressing the various holes that once housed your piercings. You hadn't had any metal in those holes in a long time, and you were surprised the holes were still even there. Furrowing your brow, you turn back to face the door, wondering when Alice planned on coming back to retrieve you.
Then the knock came.
"It's time, maggot," came the deep voice of the guard.
You walk up to the window and stare at Alice from the other side. "I want my piercings back," you say with a blank stare.
"Well, we don't have them," came her reply.
You frown. "Then get me some."
Alice sighed and walked away from your cell, pulling out some sort of communication device and phoning the squealing man about your piercings. His agitated reply was a firm no, which made you heat up with rage. You began to leak radiation, a side effect of the experiments whenever your emotions got out of hand. That was one thing you hadn't learned to control yet.
"Tell that shrill monkey that I want my fucking piercings," you growl, pounding on the door. Alice ignored you and continued walking.
She didn't come back for some time, but when she did, she arrived with your request: 20 small rings made of surgical steel. At least she knew what metal to use. You put the rings in all the open holes (8 in each ear, two in your right eyebrow, one in your nose, and one in your lip) then reexamine your reflection. You decided you're satisfied and walked back to the door.
"Are you finally ready to go? The Warden won't shut up about this meeting and I've got more important things to be doing."
You snort into the window, fogging it up, but nod in agreement. When the door opened, Alice took a large step back and raised her arms to cover her face. "God, what did you do in there? It's hot as balls."
A smirk turned up the corner of your lips as you stepped out of your cell and looked around. "Are you sure this jail can handle a hot mess like myself?" You see that your cell is at the very end of long, poorly lit hall, lined with doors that looked nothing like yours. They had two openings - one on the top and one on the bottom - and the material they were made of would quickly swell and burst if they were housing you. When you looked through the top gaps of the doors, you notice that some of the cells had windows that looked out into the jail's yard.
"Why don't I get a window?" you asked Alice as she lead you out of the holding wing and into the yard.
"We were told not to give you windows."
You scowled immensely as the two of you walked out into the open, surrounded by the sounds of catcalls and whistles from the other inmates. You quickly assumed that you were only female inmate in the facility. "What else were you told?"
"Not to touch you."
You rolled your eyes and continued your journey, ignoring everything you saw and heard on the way. Knowing that you would be spending an extensive amount of time with a bunch of lewd males started the gears of murder in your brain. You then swore to establish dominance within these walls and make these men bow to your every whim.
One inmate dared to approach you and grab your ass, which you promptly answered with a fist to the nose, shattering the cartilage and bone beneath. The inmate grunted and came in for another grab, but not before he found his face melting off. Your hand got to him before his got to you, extending across the surface and allowing radiation to flow from your veins into his features. The entire yard went silent as the body dropped to the ground with a thump. Even Alice stared at you in disbelief, mouth hanging wide.
No one dared to even glance in your direction for the rest of the walk.
After about 20 minutes of walking, you finally made it to a rather average looking building painted a dark shade of purple. You were led through the front doors and into the foyer, which was a scene out of Willy Wonka's factory, except much less pleasant. There were statues and unidentifiable devices littering the floor and walls, most of which bearing the facade of the same person: some guy with a top hat, glasses, and a gap in his teeth. You presumed this to be the Warden, and instantly a feeling of annoyance and disgust swelled within you. You were going to hate this guy.
Alice brought you to a crudely decorated escalator that led up through the ceiling and into open space, and as you looked around during your ascent, you observed that there was no down escalator in sight. You wondered how you were going to get back out, but your thoughts were quickly interrupted when you catch sight of something very interesting. In the distance, sitting on a support beam, you spot a set of identical twins, both wearing the same outfit with shoulder-length blond hair and dark unibrows. You could see them conversing, but you couldn't hear them. Your eyes narrow when they see you, and their placid smiles taunt you. The twins disappear as you reach the end of your trip, and the escalator spits you out into a large, round office with a single desk at the center. On the far wall was an enormous window that looked out onto the entire jail, a sight that almost made you dizzy. It was definitely super, and a lot of the buildings were made in the likeness of the same guy you observed in the foyer. Smoke rose from the stacks sticking out of several of these buildings, and mechanical arms moved around collecting various different things...and people. You swore you even saw something fly passed the window, something that looked a lot like a green centaur with wings.
All of a sudden, the leather chair that sat behind the desk swivelled around, revealing the Warden in his purple suit and purple hat. The toothy smile he flashed at you almost made you wince.
"Welcome to Superjail!" he shouted with too much enthusiasm for your liking. "I'm the Warden, and this is your new home!"
He jumped out of his chair and raced over to you to get a better look at you. "My, my, what an interesting character. I didn't know the new transfer was a woman. You are quite the specimen." He ran a gloved hand over the top of your head, earning him a hard slap to the face.
"Do NOT fucking touch me," you snarl.
Warden rubbed his face tenderly and chuckled. "Oh my, you are a feisty little one, aren't you? No matter. You'll fit right in with the other inmates." Somehow, you doubted that. "I do recall one of the rules being no touching."
"Then why don't you follow that rule?"
Warden laughed. "Because this is my jail, silly. Rules don't apply to me." He jumped back into his chair and a manilla folder stacked thick with papers appeared on his desk. Your eyes widen at the feat, wondering where the folder came from and how it got to the desk. Warden flipped through the folder and slammed his finger on one of the pages.
"Katherine Cantatore. Italian descent. Used to be a rising singer. Finished college with a Master's in Psychology. Descended into madness for unknown reasons. Convicted of 168 counts of premeditated murder. Sent to spend the rest of her life rotting in a mental hospital." He looked down at the paper intently then up at you, then back down at the paper and laughed. "This is funny, Alice. The picture in your file doesn't look anything like the person standing in front of me. Are you sure she's the right one?"
Just then, Jared burst through the door, flailing his arms wildly and screaming frantically at Warden.
"Sir! I caught the Twins hanging around the new inmate's cell and trying to bust in. They're up to something, I just know it!"
Jared noticed your presence and stared up at you, horrified at the sight of your face. This was the first time he actually stopped and took a good look at you, and he was clearly terrified of you. You sneer back down at him and turn your attention back to Warden.
"Jared, stop worrying about the Twins and come meet our new inmate!" Warden seemed much more excited about your arrival than anyone else you'd come across, except for maybe the Twins. They seemed to be enticed by you.
"Well, actually, sir, I've already met her-"
"No you haven't," Alice interrupted.
"Jeez, Jared, there's no need to lie about meeting her. You would've met her eventually. No need to be ashamed." Now Warden was back to your side, so close that Jared's expression turned to one of extreme worry. "She is a fine specimen, don't you think? You better be careful, Alice. You've got some competition now." He grabbed your hand at the mention of Alice's competition (which you were unsure what the competition was for at the moment), rubbing your arm gently with the tips of his fingers. You shooed him off and snarled.
"I said don't touch."
"Sir," Jared began again, "I really think you should listen to her. The guards that dropped her off wore some really advanced body protection and they were heavily armed. I think she might be dangerous."
"Dangerous how, Jared? Sure, she looks dangerous, but that's just the tattoos and the piercings. You can't just assume that she's dangerous because of her looks."
"But, sir, she murdered 168 people for fun!"
"It was actually more than that."
Three faces turn to look at you after you spoke, one of which became extremely pale.
"You see what I mean?! She's dangerous!"
"Oh you're just jealous because I'm going to get all of her attention and you won't." Warden smiled at you and kissed the top of your hand. "I hope you find yourself very comfortable here at Superjail. I'm sure you'll be a great hit with the others. There's so much for you to learn! Oh this is going to be so much fun!"
Yes, indeed, you thought to yourself. But it will not be at all fun for anyone but me.
