Chapter 3
Date Unknown
Date Unknown – Location Unknown
Delta came awake with a start. Someone was outside her cell, opening the door. Several someones, in fact.
The man was there, along with two of his...creatures.
Delta could easily recognise the animals they had been fused with. The woman on the man's left had obviously been merged with some sort of octopus or squid. Her skin was pale and rubbery, her head grossly bloated, with long tentacles sprouting from the skin around her mouth and hanging around her knees.
The man beside her appeared part ape. He was covered with a thick coat of grey hair, his arms elongated to reach his knees, his face flattened and broadened.
Both pairs of eyes were as blank as the walls of her cell, and Delta couldn't contain her shudder. They were completely mindless – human beings reduced to living puppets...
"Subjects Psi and Beta, take Subject Delta to the examination room," he ordered, waving his hand at Delta almost casually.
And Delta was instantly tense, the words 'examination room' unlocking a sudden burst of memories, like a geyser.
The cold, clinical smell of disinfectant. A grim portent of her future.
The feel of chilled metal warming against the skin of her wrists and ankles. Fighting the bonds, feeling a burst of pain when they cut into her flesh.
The sound of her own yells reverberating off the walls. Not screams, she wasn't in pain...it was anger...anger and fear.
He was muttering to himself now, and Delta's mind was dragged back to the present just long enough to hear him say, "And I may need to perform the transmutation once more. The daemon didn't take..."
And if she thought the slew of memories from the previous phrase was confusing, it was nothing compared to what bombarded her now.
Lying paralysed, pinned by harsh restraints, body swimming with lethargy.
The metallic smell of blood searing her nostrils, burning into her brain.
The world going white before her eyes, agony tearing through her body, terror consuming her. Her whole existence narrowing, becoming nothing but pain and fear. Fear and pain.
The skin on her back burning, and the blackness before her becoming utterly complete.
Instinct took over.
Adrenaline surged through Delta's veins, and as the cell door opened, instead of being docile and compliant, she leapt for the man leading the creatures inside.
She bowled him over almost instantly, and they went down in a tangle of limbs and feathers. Delta's wings spread wide, knocking the creatures away from her. They hit the walls so hard they dented the metal, and Delta felt a momentary flash of surprise at her strength.
The man grabbed at her wings, gripping them tightly in his fists and appeared to be concentrating. But nothing happened, and Delta knocked him aside, struggling upright and tearing out the open door.
"Subject Beta!" The words were barked.
The 'squid-woman', obviously Subject Beta, regained her feet and a jet of ink shot from the midst of her tentacles. Delta threw herself to the side, and the slippery substance hit the wall instead.
'Ape-man', probably Subject Psi, lunged for her, his arms open as though he were trying to crush her in a bear hug. Delta tried to dodge, but he was too quick, and managed to seize her forearm. He tried to yank her back into the cell, his movement so violent her shoulder nearly dislocated.
But the touch of a brutal hand on her arm awakened something primal within her.
Hardly recognising the scream that tore from her throat, Delta whirled. Hardly knowing what she was doing, she brought her fist up, and swung it towards Subject Psi...
And a tornado of white fire burst from her clenched fist, impacting Subject Psi and throwing him across the room, blasting him through the wall of the cell.
The man was gaping at her, and Delta could understand his confusion. What had she done?
Subject Beta went for her again, and another burst of white fire sent her to her knees. The man tried to snatch at her wings a second time, but Delta was ready for him. Another rush of white fire.
The man screamed as he was sent flying backwards, and Delta was startled to realise his skin seemed to be boiling. It was stretching and bubbling like rubber, slackening like ice cream melting in the sun.
Strangely, she felt a small burst of pity, which was quickly overwhelmed with anger. He had done this to her! And if he reaped the fruits of his torture, so be it!
Her hand rose, preparing to deliver a blow she knew would be fatal, when memory seared across her mind.
Golden eyes locked to hers, wide and pleading.
Hands on her palm, one warm, one strangely hard and cool.
A voice, soft and reverent, "You're hands are not those that kill people...they're hands that let people live."
Delta's hand stuttered in mid-air. She stared down at the man who had caused her so much pain, and found she couldn't bring herself to deliver the killing blow.
She couldn't let down that stranger from Before, the one with golden eyes who had told her she wasn't a killer.
But the man took advantage of her distraction, leaping up and away from her. Delta realised, with a start, that his skin looked perfectly normal once more. How had he managed to heal in so short a time?
Just looking at the fear on his face made the rage well up in her again. 'I am what you made me, aren't you pleased? But no, you wanted something less powerful, something you could control. But I will never be controlled again!'
She realised she was trembling with the force of her anger, that the white fire had spread from her fists to envelop her entire body, swirling flames licking at her skin without burning. Delta stared down at herself – her naked body was beginning to change, pale skin turning hard and shiny.
Metal. Her whole body was turning to metal! She felt the stirrings of panic – what was happening to her? What had they done to her?
Rage and despair merged, the realisation that, whatever she may have been Before, there was truly no going back. The man in front of her had stolen her life.
Delta threw back her head and screamed.
She barely registered the man and his creatures running away, she was so consumed in her own grief. Grief for what might have been, and what could never be, now. She didn't even know what she was grieving for – they had even taken that from her! They had desecrated her body, twisted her mind, and stolen her memories.
The white fire wreathing her body exploded outwards, demolishing walls and ceiling in it's wake. Her scream swelled to a roar, chunks of rock and metal raining down on her as the cell exploded.
oooooooo
Date Unknown – Location Unknown
When she came to herself, Delta was surprised at the level of utter destruction she'd managed to wreak. The man was gone, as was his creatures. Probably run off, convinced she'd been about to bring the whole place down around their ears.
She looked down at herself again. The metal was gone, soft white flesh replacing it. The white fire had vanished with it. Delta's mind was screaming with questions, but she shoved them ruthlessly down. She had to get out of this place first.
The corridor was completely blank on both sides, giving no indication of any exit. Delta went left, the cold metal numbing her feet, the chilled air making goosebumps rise on her body. The corridor turned a corner, and here the back walls of the cells were marked with numbers, daubed on the metal with black paint.
Gradually, she became aware of voices ahead of her. Her muscles tensed instinctively.
But the voices weren't hostile. They came from the people in the cells, staring out at her with undisguised terror. All were young, healthy...and looking at her with a sort of horrified awe, as though they were drawn to her and at the same time repelled by what they saw.
Delta fought the urge to cross her arms in front of her, to conceal her body. They were all naked here, so what was the point of modesty?
She walked to the first cell, and the occupants cringed away, huddling on the opposite wall like frightened mice. She ignored them, grasped the bars in her hands, took a deep breath, and pulled.
The steel bent like soft butter, and she felt a bubble of frustration. She could have escaped from her cell at any point, if she'd only realised her strength before this!
The people in the cell simply stared, as though hardly daring to believe that she was helping them escape. Delta moved to the next cell, once more bending the bars aside so the occupants could get out. She kept doing it, moving from cell to cell, a small crowd of the freed prisoners slowly gathering behind her.
When she got to the last cell, she stopped, stepped inside, brow furrowed as she tried to determine what had captured her attention. It seemed familiar, from the scratches on the bars to the large black '15' on the back wall. Had she been kept here, Before?
As she approached the painted numbers, her chest tightened. There were marks in the paint, as though someone had scraped it from the metal. As she drew closer, she saw that the scratches were actually words.
Reading them, a feeling of deja vu rose within Delta. With her throat almost closed by the lump in it, she raised her right index finger, and laid it over the scratches.
The marks were the exact width of her fingernail.
Delta stumbled away so quickly she nearly tripped, all but running from the cell, her mind churning, running over the words etched into the paint.
W.R. – 1916
D.O.B – 21 Mar 1899
I will not give in, I will not become his puppet.
I refuse to die here.
oooooooo
AN: Not 100 happy with this chapter, re-read it over and over again, and it just doesn't seem to click. Oh, well, I posted anyway. This may seem very confusing, but it's meant to be. Things will clear up later, maybe a very long while later, but things will clear up.