Chapter 2 – Shiny and New
Cold. The feeling enveloped every sensation of Auburn's being. It felt so… empty. She tried to think on why that would be, but the thoughts drifted into the dark void surrounding her just like anything else.
The void made it hard to do anything. It seemed trivial to pass through, if not for its boundaries extending far beyond anything Auburn could ever imagine. That is, if imagination hadn't drifted away with the rest of her thoughts.
Struggling like this was so tiring. Whatever she had been doing to make it to this point must have been hard. Maybe it was just as hard as thinking.
Maybe it would just be easier to sleep.
Sleep would be easy. Sleep wouldn't bring in more fog to the dark void around her. Sleep would mean rest, and she was oh so very tired.
Dreams came in waves of emotions. There would be a flash of an image. Something from a past that was no longer clear. The fuzzy picture would evaporate into the cloudy abyss, only to be followed by another wave. Anger. Sadness. Empathy. Joy. Happiness. Each one flickered one by one. Each one bringing a new sensation with it.
But why didn't she feel it? The emotions were clear in a world where nothing else was. She could see the color of every single one as they flashed from red, blue, green, and pink. Why did she see them? Why weren't they making her feel anything?
She tried to think of an answer, but the fog returned with the attempt. Her thoughts tried to escape, but she held onto them as hard as she could. Why? What happened to her? Why could she not feel?
The fog answered back with red. The color flashed through her just as she saw anger only moments before. It bore through her unlike anything she had felt before. Red. It flashed again.
It hurt.
The painful red began to twist into a sinister black around her. The questions she had spun further. Pain? After all of this, why could she suddenly feel pain? The colors flashed again bringing another flare of agony. The mist around her felt as if it was trying to squeeze her into suffocation.
This had to be a nightmare. She was sleeping. She was dreaming. Surely, this flashing light was something she had created. All she had to do was wake up. All she had to do was open her eyes. Another flash roared around her.
"Please… Just open your eyes."
She struggled. After all this rest, it seemed like the muscles had locked themselves shut. The black began cutting through the red surrounding her.
"No… Do not go back to sleep."
She focused on her eyes. The black was getting closer. She had to beat it. She wouldn't let it take her! She felt her eyelids twitch. A spec of white suddenly shown through the vast darkness. The void screamed at her. It was working!
Auburn focused. She just had to make it to the light. She just had to focus. The white in front of her flickered once again. The void tried to eclipse it in one last desperate attempt to keep her prisoner, but the light would not give in. Auburn would not give in.
Mustering all the strength she could find inside of her, she managed to prop a single eye open. The darkness let out one last howl as it disappeared in the bright light. All of that time, and now the boundary was clear. The void had an end. All she had to do was step through.
Her vision was fuzzy. Her eye struggled to adapt to the bright environment. She could feel it shift back and forth through dilation in an attempt to bring forth some form of clarity. As it adjusted, her ears did the same. It filled her head with the ringing of a tiny, high-pitched, white noise.
What happened to me? Why is waking up so difficult? Her ears desperately tried to search for some sort of answer for her situation. All they could find were the muffled sounds of talking.
"Doctor, the transfer appears to have been a success." Was that a man? Or a woman? Why do they sound so far away? Auburn's eyes continued adjusting to the bright light as she thought on the mumbled words. What is a transfer?
"Yes. It appears so…" Another voice? That one is a man. The ringing in her ears had calmed enough to make out his words. Why does he still sound so muffled?
"So doctor, what is the next step?" Auburn's eyes could make out a few shapes. She focused on that as hard as she could. With that focus, her second eye managed to pull itself open. The added vision helped her see a few colors of her reflection. Why am I behind glass?
"Well, General…" There was a sharp sound of metal scraping against metal underneath her. Air rushed towards her from all directions and the colors of her reflection in the glass began to creep upwards towards the ceiling. "The experiment does appear to have been a success. However, we can only prove that with a test."
The wall of glass and metal finished its climb over her head. Its abrupt stop shook whatever cell she was trapped in. Auburn's eyes began to survey the situation in a frantic attempt to figure out where she had been taken.
The room in front of her was white. The walls, the ceiling, the tiled floor, all of it, bright white. Directly in front of her were a few stairs made out of the same tile as the floor. They led to a large desk that held a monitor and a collection of papers that were scattered across its surface. Behind that desk was the source of the voices. Two men both wearing coats colored the same white that covered the room.
She studied them both. Are they friendly? The taller man looking at her with a smug, confident smile didn't rouse confidence in that. To plain eyes, he was tall and handsome. His dark hair had slight grey streaks running on either side of his face that took away attention from his sharp, dark blue eyes. Right now, his looks did little to distract Auburn. All she could focus on was the way he was staring down at her. His gaze made her feel as if she was some sort of prize. It was sickening.
The sounds of footsteps pulled her back to her surroundings. Is the other man going to be the same way? Her eyes locked onto her new target, only to find that he had started making his way towards her. He was an older man, not too tall, and a bit heavy set. His head was full of white hair that ran from his beard and mustache, all the way around the back of his head. As he stepped under one of the rooms bright lights, a glare from the top of his head hit her eye. The bald spot that resided there revealed more of his caramel skin than the rest of his face had.
While she examined the man, Auburn made out a small item gripped in his right hand. The black and yellow tape wrapped around its grip concerned her. Is that a weapon? What is he going to do with me? She tried to move her body. Tried to shake it back to life just like her eyes. It wouldn't budge. Her limbs felt so heavy. It was as if the joints had been locked into place during her deep sleep. Her concern turned into fear as the man stepped directly in front of her and started inspecting her body with brown eyes.
"General, do you mind taking some notes for me? These next moments will be very important to capture." Auburn noticed a slight wavering in his voice. She couldn't quite make out if it was nerves or excitement that had caused it.
The man behind the desk nodded his head. "Of course, Doctor. I expect that this time there will be notes worth taking."
The doctor nodded his head and let out a small mumble under his breath. "I hope so…"
Their exchange terrified Auburn. Are they going to experiment on me? Internally, she was shaking while her body remained still. You have to speak, Auburn. Say something. Say anything! No matter how hard she tried, the words failed to come out. As she struggled, the doctor continued his scan over every part of her body. Auburn was forced to be still as he did. "Yes. Everything appears to be functional from an initial analysis."
The man at the desk begin clicking away at a keyboard. "Yes, yes." The man's voice sounded a bit irritated. "As I said doctor, I'm expecting notes worth taking."
The older man nodded his head slowly and shifted closer towards her body. He waved a finger in front of her face and watched as her eyes tracked it in all directions. "Minor motor functions seem to be in tact as well." He brought the item in his hand up to her arm. "Beginning full functional capability test."
Auburn braced for whatever the device would bring, only for the sound of surging electricity to erupt from the device. A vicious pain rocked through Auburn. She tried to scream, but the words would still not come. Instead, the current from the device pushed her close to the black unconsciousness.
No! I am not going back there! I am not letting it take me again! The pain and anger she felt pushed her forward. The drive resulted in the movement of a single finger. She could feel the electricity surge towards the appendage. The current seemed to awaken a set of nerves in her system that had ceased all function during her sleep.
"Doctor, the aura readings from your computer are all over the place. I'm sure I don't have to remind you of what happened the last time." He stepped away from the monitor and sighed. "End the test. It's over."
The doctor stopped the electricity, and Auburn's finger fell back into place with the others on her hand. "No!" His voice was fierce in its defiance. "I just need more power! It will work this time!" His free hand reached for the device and turned its single large knob until it hit the end of its field of motion.
Auburn saw the red from her dreams. Current shook through her as she fell in and out of consciousness. She tried to fight it, doing everything in her power to make the pain go away. The nerves in her arm flared once again and she felt her hand catch something.
The electricity stopped at once. The pain from the current left and the tension from her brace began to drift away. Her eyes opened slowly, only to find brown eyes the size of saucers staring back at her.
The doctor stood in front of her with an arm outstretched towards the place he had electrocuted her. His gaze locked onto her in fear of what might happen next. Why is he so scared? He was the one using that weapon on me! Auburn's eyes tracked up the doctor's arm. He kept it eerily still. It made her realize just how quiet the room had become. Her eyes continued their trail until it came upon something new.
A hand gripped the doctor by his wrist. She tried to get a better look at it, but her stiff neck kept it at the corner of her eye. The hand was small and pale. Its hold over the doctor seemed to freeze him in his place. That doesn't make any sense… Auburn's mind began to race. That's not my hand… She tried to fight her panic back, but she could not take her attention off the unfamiliar limb. That is NOT my hand!
"P…Penny?" The doctor whispered out the words.
A machine by the man at the desk sprung to life and started beeping and clicking. The awestruck general simply watched as colors and shapes danced across the screen in front of him. "Doctor… If I'm reading this right, her aura isn't stable." His eyes began racing across the data. "This isn't safe. Whatever you've done, you have to stop it now!"
The doctor took one more look into Auburn's eyes. He watched as they trembled behind a face that could do nothing but hold a smile. "No! Ironwood, she has emerald eyes! They've changed! The soul took inside the body!"
Auburn's head continued to spiral. Her soul… took? That doesn't make any sense! What did they do to me? The computers spat out data faster than Ironwood could comprehend. The situation was getting worse. "I'm giving you one minute to explain yourself, doctor. Otherwise, I'm shutting this whole thing down."
The man pointed towards her eyes with his free hand. "Her eyes are emerald! They've grown darker and more vibrant." Auburn couldn't comprehend the words. My eyes have always been emerald. Did they… change me? What did they do? "I didn't see it before, but now that I'm up close…"
"Enough!" Ironwood's voice boomed out over the small room. "You told me that you were going to transfer the soul of someone with silver eyes. You told me that you could bring it back to life." Silver eyes? What are they talking about? "So far, all you've done is waste Atlas funding that could go to much greater causes."
The doctor looked at Ironwood in horror. "No… You can't…"
The general sighed once again. "Gep, I can't let this continue." His fingers started typing once again. "I have to shut it down."
The doctor pulled at his arm to free himself from Auburn's tight grasp. Her fingers were locked in such a tight hold that his coat ripped up the sleeve as he yanked free. Auburn could only watch as he ran to his general. They fought in front of the monitor. Each one trying to push the other back in a desperate attempt to take control of the situation. None of it mattered to Auburn. One detail from their conversation had passed all the others. Silver eyes… Why does that sound so familiar? Why can't I remember?
She tried to picture it clearly, but the image she wanted to see came back just as mottled as when she dreamed. She tried to focus on the tiny details of the memories and was answered with colors. Silver, red, and a soft white took over her vision. Each glow of the colors brought forth a warmth inside of her that felt so distant to the cold that surrounding her. Silver eyes. I… They're important. She racked through her mind for answers. Why are they important? Why can't I remember?
The screens by the arguing men began signaling a new tone. The beeping had ceased, only for a siren to take its place. A flashing yellow warning reflected across their face, drawing attention to its source.
Auburn clenched down on her irresponsive body. It strained back against her and screeched as she tried to force it to move out of will alone. Her panic and fear surrounded the foreign appendages and pushed them forward. At first, all it could manage was a slight twinge of the neck. It did little, but was immediately followed by the shake of an arm. The two men stared at her body as its hand gripped itself into a fist. "Doctor… What's happening?"
There was a movement of its leg. It was slow. It didn't push itself more than a few inches, but it was there. Their creation had taken a step. It had moved on its own. "I… I don't know." Its other leg picked itself up before dropping another few inches forward once again. "It… it worked…"
Auburn pushed herself beyond the metal machine she had been kept in. More bright white light forced her eyes to adjust as she stepped out of its shadow. Answers. I need to find answers. Her body twisted mechanically towards machine. It was larger than what she imagined could have fit in the room. Two pods of metal and glass stood tall on either side with a monitor in between. Above, large tubes connected the pods together in a twisting of metals and wires.
There is room for two. I was in one… Her eyes locked on to the pod that remained shut. Behind its glass, there was a small glint of silver that reflected back to her vision. The color entranced her and begged her to move towards it. The rest of her thoughts escaped, and her legs lethargically pulled her closer to the shining glow.
As she approached, the silver hue grew. It came from metal chains that had been painstakingly clamped together. Under the white lights, it was hard to make out the dried red blood that ran across the collection of rings surface. The chainmail had an owner. She was old, withered, and sitting at the bottom of the pod. Even with her wrinkled skin, Auburn could make out its beautiful peach color.
She was so familiar. Her dark red hair blended with the silver that had come with old age. Even though the woman's eyes were closed, Auburn knew what color they would be. They would be emerald, just like her eyes.
They were her eyes.
The alarm from the machines came to a halt. There was no more beeping. No more colors dancing across the screens. Everything in the room froze in place as Auburn moved her hand up towards the glass. The paleness of its skin struck her. It wasn't her hand. Her hand was behind the glass, against the floor with the rest of her body. Whose hand is this? Her eyes focused on the glass surface in front of her. The colors she had seen when she was in her pod began forming a clear picture. Short orange hair was her first sight. In the middle, a cowlick lifted a few strands of hair up and away from her head. There, it was met with pink from a bow that had been neatly tied up in the hair on the back of her head. The orange hair covered the pale skin of her forehead, and stopped just above her eyes. Her whole face came into picture. It smiled at her as its emerald eyes locked with hers.
Auburn stared at them. They were the same as they had always been. A beautiful vibrant green that belonged to her and her alone. Yet, here they were on a strangers face. A face that now belonged to her. The cold empty feeling pushed its way back into her. Auburn had died. She couldn't remember why, or how, but the old woman that rested on the floor in front of her was no more.
The numbness she felt left her immediately when a hand moved to rest itself on her shoulder. The doctor's face took frame in the glass next to her. You… you did this to me. She took note of the look on his face. He looked proud. It was you. You're the one that did this. What did you do to me? The hand on her shoulder gripped her tight as if to try to comfort her. The thought that he could comfort her… The thought that he was proud of what he had done… It snapped the last be of resolve that Auburn had left. WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!
Her body could no longer hold her back as the confusion and rage took hold. Her arm squealed as it shot up towards her shoulder. Her hand found his forearm once again, but did not provide the mercy it had before. A tight grip clamped down on the appendage, and continued to squeeze until the man fell to his knees. YOU DID THIS TO ME! Her body provided no words, but there were more ways to communicate her hatred towards the man.
She heard him shriek in pain. "Pe…Penny… AHHHH… Please! Please stop!"
His screams just barely covered the sound of a gun locking itself into a ready position. "Let him go!" Ironwood's demand roared through the room. Auburn could clearly see the revolver that accompanied it. She answered it with another scream from the doctor.
Death didn't scare her. Being dead was nothing compared to the darkness that had forced her to sleep for so long. No, death was mercy. She glared down into the eyes of the man at her feet. He cowered closer to the floor as emerald eyes bore down into him with a smile still locked on her face. Auburn drew her face closer to his, but the true terror came from what he began to feel on his arm.
I want you to feel what you did to me! Auburn felt her presence start to push itself over him. Her feelings and thoughts poured out of her body, and down towards him arm. I want you to know what you made me go through! Auburn's aura ran through the man's body. He could feel the darkness it held wash over him like a raging black cloud. His eyes went wide as what little memories of the soul he had taken collapsed around him.
"Ja… James… P… Put the gun away." The doctor quivered as he spoke.
The general ignored the request, and reached his free hand to the keyboard next to him. "Have you gone mad? It's going to kill you!"
The doctor's eyes remained locked on his creation. His voice now coming out as a whimper. "I'm so sorry. I… I didn't know." Another squeeze was Auburn's only response. The doctor cried out in pain. "I can fix this! I promise! I can fix it!"
I don't want you to fix me! I want answers! She tried to force the hand to clamp down once more, but this time it wouldn't budge. No! Why won't it move? Auburn began to panic once again as she felt her body stiffen and her grip on the doctor release. She tried to force through it, but the locks in her joints were too strong. Her eyes shook as the doctor quickly slid himself across the floor on his knees. She tried to focus on him, but something took up her vision. Words flashed in the air in front of her. They spelled out 'Chassis System Override' in green neon lights.
Fear enveloped Auburn once more. She heard the clicking of a keyboard, and the sounds of a man slowly walking away.
"Fix this." They were the only words spoken as Ironwood left the room.
