Chapter One : Power and Control
Lorelle Fetique, 16
Breathe.
Lorelle loosened her iron grip on her waist. Though her heart pounded away, blood roaring in her ears, she told herself she was fine. A shuddering breath rocked through her body. Dropping her arms to her sides, back ramrod straight, she took a step further into the populated garden.
Snatches of conversation floated her way, and she smiled at those who looked her way. Her lips trembled. Her heart yearned to talk with them. A bit more force, and the shaky curve would probably break.
Someone brushed against her and she jumped. Her vision dotted with black for a moment as the hammering of her heart overtook her hearing. But then, she managed to pull herself together and the person who had brushed past her was gone. Lorelle swallowed, and picked up her pace.
The people in her way were dizzying. Why were there so many? Somewhere in the depths of her frazzled mind, the word Sunday floated across. Sunday was a day of rest for most of the subjects. And the garden was quite the popular spot to come and rest – the only place devoid of any testing contraptions.
Heart feeling like it was going to burst out of her chest, Lorelle practically ran the last bit of the pebbled path to her waiting friend.
He stood alone in a quieter corner, luckily.
"Dakota," Lorelle burst out once she reached him.
Her hands trembled as cold sweat started to chill her body. Gently, the Asian boy gathered her pale hands in his. He guided her to the empty bench next to him, and they settled down under the shade of the tree.
Free to observe the people in the garden, tension slowly ebbing out from her, Lorelle watched them. Their relaxed poise, the light touches, and easy smiles – they all filled her with wistfulness, and envy.
She stared down at her hands, at her fingers intertwined with Dakota's. She wished she could do what they did. But she could never afford to do so.
"Lore, look," Dakota pointed out, jerking his chin in the direction of a nearby flowerbed. "Have you fed today?"
The wilting white daises were almost enrapturing. Almost. It only served as a reminder that she could destroy anything.
"Yeah," she answered. The edges of her lips tugged up into a barely there smile. Pale blue eyes remained lifeless. "I guess it wasn't enough."
She pulled her hands away from Dakota's.
"Thank you."
The same words spilled from her as always.
Thank you for balancing me. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for not abandoning me.
He grinned. Bumping her shoulder playfully, he gestured wildly around to the groups in the garden, some leaving. His expression turned pensive a moment later though. Lorelle cocked her head in puzzlement, confused at the sudden change in his mood.
"Are you sure you want to continue meeting here?"
An exasperated sigh left Lorelle instantly. He asked this question weekly without fail. Her answer never changed, but she appreciated that he was always thinking of how to make things better for her.
"Yes," she said firmly. "I…I like being with people. Even if I can't really talk to them."
If she eased up even slightly, if she let her guard down just a tiny bit, she could lose control and kill them. The very thought of it horrified her.
Not to mention what the scientists would do to her if her power acted up. The needles and the tubes poking at her, into her, worming under her skin. Her skin prickled at the memories.
Then, a weightless feeling entered her body, and she flailed around wildly.
She loathed not having control over herself.
Panic left her as easily as it came however, and she found herself face to face with Dakota. He set her down on the ground gently, one hand holding hers tightly. Guilt twinged in her. Her emotions had to be burdensome for him. A heavy feeling swept over her, but tranquillity replaced them.
"No, they aren't," he responded quite suddenly. When he looked at her, she had to crane her neck up and shield her eyes against the blinding sun. "I would have left a long time ago if I couldn't handle them."
Her steps slowed to a stop.
"How did you…?" She trailed off knowing he would answer her unfinished question.
Really though, she should have known. Five years of friendship and he was the only one who ever cared enough to stay by her side. Even if it meant risking his life at times when she was at her most unstable.
"You're really easy to read, Lore," Dakota laughed. "You aren't a burden to me."
Tugged forward, Lorelle came to stand beside Dakota. They resumed walking.
"Let me do the caring when we're together, alright?"
A rhetorical question. The only answer he would allow was a 'yes'. And not for the first time, Lorelle nodded.
Dakota continued prattling on, nudging her on occasion for answers.
Lorelle's tiny smile grew bigger and bigger as they did their customary walk around the garden.
But she could never truly relax.
Not even Dakota could restrain her power.
Sylwen Mirković, 17
"Personally speaking, I think you have the right to be angry."
Sylwen leaned against a pillar, watching the movements of the young girl next to him. How old was she? Fifteen, sixteen? It hardly mattered to him anyway. Age was but a number in the grand scheme of things. People should just learn how to let go no matter their maturity.
The pink-head remembered when he was fifteen. Life seemed marvellously hopeless, and being surrounded by idiots who saw no further than their own two feet hardly helped. The endless sleepless nights were rewarded with the recruitment advertisement on television. It was only natural to join – it seemed like the only way out at that time. The only way out of his monotonous life.
Needless to say, it was life-changing.
Sylwen smirked.
"Is anything the matter?"
"Everything's the matter," he lamented.
The girl's chocolate brown eyes widened. He chuckled. He decided to tone it down before the girl decided she was better off without him. What was her name again? Did she even introduce herself?
"But now, the only thing that matters is you," he patted her head. Static jolted through him and he started, drawing his hand back immediately. Oops. "He had no right to do that to you. Insulting someone as, um, powerful as you? He clearly has a death wish."
Stroking egos was always such a fun and boring thing to do. People who came up complaining to him about something or another just wanted their ego to be fed. Sylwen was a master at that, fortunately. He did wonder what was so charming about him that made strangers come up to him to spill out their worries.
Perhaps it had something to do with how easily he was forgotten. Forgotten people rarely made much of a splash in anything.
He watched little lightning bolts shoot out from the girl's hand into the box of sand. What she wanted to do; he had no idea. But it seemed dangerous so he distanced himself. Getting injured in the training room today was not very high up on his agenda.
"I know right!" she answered angrily, tossing her dark brown hair behind her shoulder.
Sylwen studied her carefully. If he pulled the right strings, she could fall right into the palms of his hands.
"I want to teach him a lesson, but how?"
She was getting on his nerves.
Deciding he had had enough of hearing her prattle on about her strength, he pushed himself off the pillar.
Forgotten people rarely made much of a splash in anything.
Sylwen never believed in that.
But, beliefs were the easiest thing to manipulate.
"Challenge him," he answered. "Don't hold back. You," he slid his eyes towards the sparkling bolts of energy, "control lightning, right? Fry him so bad he'll learn to never mock you."
Seriously, the facility should learn how to tame egos. With great power came great responsibility should be drilled into the subjects' heads.
"But the guards…"
Guards were always stationed in rooms that allowed them to use their power freely. Everywhere else; the guards melded in as a test subject or the cameras observed their every movement.
"Sparring matches are allowed," Sylwen bluffed.
The brunette's eyes practically lit up. He managed to control himself enough not to scoff. She was definitely new and unlearned in the ways of how the facility worked. She probably failed to listen to the briefings too.
Training rooms were not for sparring. There were designated rooms for that, and everything to do with that was heavily regulated.
The last thing the authorities wanted was the facility to be destroyed via a destructive clash of powers, after all.
"You're the best!" she grinned.
He cringed internally at her naivety.
At least he would get to see her thrown into solitary confinement.
Cheerfully waving goodbye, Sylwen noticed a guard was staring at him. The former shifted uncomfortably. How long had he been watched? He rarely got careless with his machinations, but sometimes, he still slipped up. Especially when he had to dedicate his attention to making sure what he wanted went according to plan.
Knowing better than to smile at the guard, Sylwen shifted the metal band on his wrist. He counted silently in his head.
On the twentieth second, sparks flew.
Literally.
A grin nearly split Sylwen's face into half as shouting and screaming filled the room. He was fairly sure he heard a 'the fuck, bitch!' thrown in. Laughter rippled free from him. Snorting away, he wondered if he would be electrocuted if he tried phasing through the pillar behind him.
Shots echoed through the dust billowing through the room. Smoke with the distinct odour of charred flesh entered the pink-head's nostrils. He pulled a face. Burnt meat smelt disgusting.
Laughing to himself, someone pushed Sylwen roughly to the ground. Guards had flooded into the room, forcing the other powered people down. His dark brown eyes flitted downwards to his metal band. The green line coloured red, shock and pain gripping him as he felt the familiar disconnect to his power set in.
His pupils dilated. His vision faded in and out. The hand on his head moved down to his wrists and cuffed them together. Yanked up roughly, Sylwen couldn't help his grin.
There was no reason for people to hold back.
Everything became so much more fun with destruction and chaos.
"C070," someone called.
His head snapped towards the feminine voice. A scientist stood in front of him holding a clipboard. The scientist's eyes flicked downwards to it before their eyes met again.
"Take it away."
Verena Carnes, 20
It felt as though someone could slice through the tension with a butter knife.
Verena frowned when she noticed a gathering in the common room. A few kept glancing over to the entrance of the dormitory. Her skin prickled with untold aggression, and she made her way over. Sleepiness still tugged at her eyelids, but it vanished as soon as she saw the sight before her.
A black haired girl was sprawled on the marble floor, a blonde standing above her. The latter had her left foot placed on the abdomen of the former.
How pathetic.
Verena wasn't too surprised though.
The dormitories were one of the very few places that were largely unobserved, and things tended to happen. She supposed it was expected if one had a large group of females living together, some particularly crazy for one reason or another. Fights never happened though. If they did, they were broken up quickly.
Wherever fights happened, the guards came.
Keeping her lazy smile to herself, Verena stepped forward. Her heart squeezed as her gut roiled. Confrontations were never her forte, but they were necessary sometimes. She swallowed to keep her cool.
Surprise flitted across the blonde's expression before she scowled.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Verena asked.
The blonde scoffed. She grinded her heel further into the black haired girl's stomach. The pink-head winced at the whimper. She remembered the prone girl. Quiet, withdrawn, never really interacting much, but she had been here longer than Verena.
The blonde growled, pulling her right arm back, hand curling into a fist.
"Why don't you mind your own, bitch!"
Verena barely avoided her fist flying her way. It seemed as though the prospect of an actual fight breaking out cut through the tension though. The bystanders broke out of their frozen poses. A few threw themselves onto the girl, and others rushed to the other girl sprawled on the ground.
How volatile, Verena remarked tonelessly in her mind.
Adrenaline pumped through her veins, heat rushing through her body. Taking in a deep breath to calm down, relieved that she hadn't actually been hit, she moved to the victim's side. The blonde was being carted off by a few others. Verena was pleased. Yet again, an action of hers had emboldened others to act.
Perfect.
"Thank you," the blackhead murmured.
Verena shot her her most winning smile.
"No problem. It's only natural."
The young girl only smiled wanly before pushing herself up and rushing off, arms wrapping around her waist.
"Nice, Verena!" A dorm mate praised.
The woman laughed and shook her head. Looking over their heads to see who remained, she saw someone with dark hair scoff before walking off. Verena shrugged. No matter.
The other girls crowded around the biological manipulator, forming a natural circle around her. Pride and joy blossomed in Verena's heart. Lips curling into a self-satisfied grin, she launched into an easy conversation with the others. The girls from before were long forgotten.
Fights, what fights?
None of it really mattered to her so long as she could be lauded in some way.
Pleased that her daily good deed was done, Verena extricated herself from the girls after a while more to slip off on her own.
Humming as she walked, footsteps holding a bounce in them, she easily merged with the other test subjects. Her eyes flitted around, trying to see if she could pick out any guards. There were the obvious ones but those were at the fringe of the areas. Then there were the ones who melded with the others.
The undercover ones never stayed in the dormitories though. The common shower would expose them.
Why get a brand when you didn't have to?
The nape of her neck felt as if it had been touched by fire. Rubbing the back of it, her fingers slipped under her hair to run over the tattoo with her serial number. Her smile faded a little as her heart clenched.
She was theirs.
Good deeds, huh?
The hairs on her neck stood up, but the feeling it brought was different. As though someone was watching her. Her fingers curled up and she clasped them behind her back. Subconsciously, she quickened her pace. She had to distract herself. She was thinking too much.
Drawing out of her inner world, she took to observing the people around her.
She's slouching too much, he's talking too loudly, picking your nose in public is unrefined, don't fling your hand right in front of my face, she looks too unholy.
Verena's nose wrinkled in disgust at the brunette's hair plastering to her face. Her complexion was pallid and she looked like she was going to collapse. Couldn't the girl have stayed in instead of gracing everyone with her disgusting appearance?
Her back seemed to tighten then, the skin drawing tightly across her bones. Veering off the main path to a secluded one, the sensation faded slightly though she still felt on edge. Setting her jaw, Verena refused to be afraid. Exuding false confidence, she spun around to a scientist behind her with two guards.
A quick look around told her that the other subjects were plainly ignoring her. Some took a few looks but no one did anything.
No one ever did.
"Yes?" she asked.
Did it have to do with the fight in the dormitory earlier?
"It is C089," the man in the middle affirmed. "Take it away."
Verena submitted to the guards coming to either side of her, walking with them. But panic had surged up in her. She took a deep breath to maintain her composure.
Something was different, off about this entire thing.
They always said 'Come with us'. Never 'Take it away'.
She had the feeling this was not going to be a simple experiment or test run.
Elijah Iasthai, 17
Elijah's body felt as if it was going to fall apart.
Strength leaving his legs as the seconds ticked by, body breaking out in a feverish sweat, dark crimson marking his skin, staining his clothes, Elijah was barely holding on.
His vision blurred, and his legs gave in. Knees hit the linoleum tiles, pain ricocheting through him. He would have bruises there later. Vision clearing, he refocused on the girl. He could hear her wails as she unleashed another furious blast of energy against the solid dummy. She dissolved into a fresh round of sobbing. The dummy had hardly budged.
Please make this stop, Elijah begged mentally.
"D12066, do not stop. Continue." The monotonous voice blasted through the intercom.
The girl looked like she was barely holding on. Elijah hoped she would collapse then and there, then the researchers would have to halt this practice.
Then, he would no longer have to heal her.
He instantly hated himself for feeling that way.
He looked at his- her injuries. Her injuries on him. The surface of his skin – the epidermis was it? – were whittled away on his arms and shins.
"D12066!" The voice growled out.
Elijah's head snapped up. He saw her flinch. She was new to the program, still young, but already so tortured. He could see it in her eyes – the same look he seemed to see in almost everyone he had met; torment and fear.
Her hand raised up.
No, please don't, please just collapse right now. You're being such a burden to me. I don't want to take your injuries anymore!
She was still crying.
Please.
The air vanished from around Elijah. He gasped, flying into a panic even though he should be used to it already. A whistling sound resounded. Then air came rushing back to him, slamming into his lungs as he inhaled. He winced from the force.
He somehow managed to keep himself conscious. He saw the dummy's head fall, the girl finally managing to have cut it down.
"Good job, D12066. This is it for today."
She turned to face him.
He could see her skin had disappeared. Not from her arms or her shins. Not even from her thighs. It was from her face. Her power had injured her once again. The blood was such a bright, bright scarlet.
Her lips moved.
"Hey, heal me. That's your job, right?"
"Hey, heal me. That's your job, right?"
Every single one of them was the same. From past to present, nothing had really changed.
Elijah wanted to decline, he wanted to say no. But self-loathing washed over him once more. How dare he say no?
Self-preservation reared its ugly head.
The girl frowned, then glared.
Elijah swallowed.
He nodded and took a deep breath to still himself. He began to focus, imagining himself taking away her wounds, imagining the wounds appearing on him instead.
How dare he say no?
This was his only worth.
"C036, stop."
Elijah froze. The researchers had come down with the guards.
"D12066, you will follow Doctor Gin. C036, follow me."
Relief spread throughout Elijah, as hot and fast as wildfire. He pushed himself up, trying to stand, but his legs wobbled and he fell to the ground. The researcher sighed.
"Carry it."
A minute later, after a bit of struggling, Elijah found himself on the back of a guard. He refused to rest his head on the guard's shoulder. They were not doing it out of kindness. It was out of necessity.
This facility and its system were not, and would never be, kind.
His body hurt so much and with every jerk, he felt as though some part of him was going to unravel. It suddenly did not seem it was just the epidermis that had been eroded away. He had a feeling it went deeper than that. He had healed her plenty. But his mind was too muddled to really remember much of anything.
Refusing to lose consciousness, Elijah thought about random things. From his parents to their last conversation to what he had for breakfast.
He practiced what he would say to them in their next phone call. Yes, everything is going well. I haven't been falling behind. The higher-ups are all very proud of me.
His thoughts spun around, some coherent, others incoherent. And just as he was slipping off to a sea of black, the guard roughly threw him onto a soft bed.
"Doctor, please take care of C036," the researcher said.
There was the hissing of a door sliding, then a 'click'. The only sound was sterile silence.
"A healer will be coming soon," the doctor's voice floated over.
"Okay."
Elijah's mind drifted. If he could count all the injuries he had sustained over the years, if they would all reappear on his body at once, would he unravel like bandages? His flesh and bone nothing but shreds fluttering away into the wind, disappearing and vanishing weightlessly.
He was nothing more than split ends and fraying ropes.
Breaks came irregularly for him. When he was unneeded, he was left to wander the sometimes empty halls alone. When he was needed, he had to be there.
"You mongrel."
That person was right. He was nothing more than their dog. A dog utterly at their beck and call.
"The healer is here," the doctor called.
Elijah's eyelids fluttered open. A skittish young girl stood over him. He dully wondered if any of the data gotten from him was represented in her. Her hands hovered above his body.
She was certainly a better specimen than him.
"Thank you," he said blankly.
She must be the better model of him, he reflected.
His thoughts faded into obscurity for a moment before it came back full force.
How pathetic of him.
Danica Vaughn, 17
With every grunt, with every whimper, Danica's heart twisted a bit more.
It brought back memories of the abandoned factory. Where her sole companions were the drip drop of water and roaring silence.
She wondered what she was doing here. Scanning the common room, she realised dejectedly that trying to escape would only attract attention. She sighed and resumed observing the blonde kicking the ebony haired girl down onto the ground.
How pathetic.
The gibberish whispers in Danica's head only increased. One hand trailing up the russet coloured wall, she took a step back. Grayish-green eyes trailed down her left arm to the metal band around her wrist. The hypnotizing red glowed.
It wasn't enough to stop the vines from crawling across her body. From the voices whispering constantly in her ears, her mind, until they reached a buzz much like bees. Chill crept into her body, sneaking into her veins.
Mine, mine, mine, ours, ours, ours, mineminemineminemioursursuours…
Danica blinked.
The vines were gone. She breathed. They probably were never there to begin with. But the voices never ceased, ever her constant companions. No matter how much they numbed her to her power, or how much electricity cut into her, the voices were always there.
The shadows wanted her.
They loved her.
It had been so ever since that day.
It only empowered Danica and her sense of power.
"-pick on someone your own size." The husky voice cut through Danica's train of thought.
The latter perked up, interested by the turn of events. She rolled her eyes when she saw it was Verena Carnes. That woman made quite the reputation of being a saint. Danica never believed it though.
There was simply no way people could be so virtuous.
Especially in an environment such as this.
The fight was broken up all too quickly, and the shadow user decided to lurk around a bit more to see if anything else would occur. Verena and the black haired girl interacted briefly before the latter rushed off. The former's beam made Danica want to throw up. Her lips formed a mirthless smile.
Fake.
Scoffing at the girls gathering around Verena, Danica stalked off. She couldn't believe she roomed with such oblivious idiots at times. Crossing her arms, face a stony stare, she ignored the wistful clenching of her heart.
She didn't need friends. She didn't need anyone.
Warmth greeted Danica. She stood outside the building for a few moments, inhaling the air, smelling salt and wet moss. It was more humid than usual today. Moving off, she did not go far before a cheerful voice greeted her.
"Dani!"
Aurora bounced over to the older girl and flung her arms around her waist. Danica cracked a small smile, and ruffled her hair affectionately.
She didn't need anyone.
Danica knew more than anyone how much of a lie that was.
"Hey."
"Have you eaten?"
"No." Danica wavered between telling Aurora about the fight in the dormitory before deciding against it. "I just woke up a while ago."
It was a lie, but she figured Aurora didn't have to know. She wondered if Aurora's dorm had fewer issues than hers. Somehow, she doubted it.
"Let's eat together!"
"Of course."
The answer fell easily from Danica's lips. Aurora sticking close to her side, the dark haired girl slid one arm around the blonde's shoulders to hold her close. Looking at her, all Danica saw was her thirteen year old self. Wide-eyed and seeing life through rose-coloured glasses; it ignited a flame of protectiveness.
People lost their innocence once they stepped into this compound. But at the very least, Danica wanted to keep Aurora from corrupting like her.
The young girl tugged on Danica's hand, gesturing wildly to the different things she saw. Her blue eyes were bright. It tugged at Danica's heartstrings a little. Lips curling up into a soft smile, she let Aurora tug her down the way to the cafeteria. She quirked up an eyebrow at the way Aurora took.
Before she could say anything though, Aurora skidded to a stop.
"Um, Dani, there are a few scientists…" she trailed off uncertainly.
Haunches rising, Danica focused ahead. The pavement had become oddly empty though a few people were still scattered around. Danica sucked in a deep breath to calm down, and nodded at the scientist that stopped in front of her. The guards with him left her nervous. His grey eyes flicked to Aurora.
Getting the feeling the scientist only wanted to deal with her, and her alone, Danica turned to Aurora and knelt.
"Aurora, head to the cafeteria first, okay? And you went the wrong way. It's down the other path. I'll be with you soon."
The girl looked as though she wanted to protest, but after looking in between Danica and the researcher, she nodded and quickly walked the way she was pointed in.
Danica straightened and regarded the researcher coolly. Her customary sullen expression set in, lips pressed into a thin line.
"What do you need with me, Doctor Javonne?"
She didn't recall being scheduled for anything today. There was always the possibility she was needed for something though.
"D5063," the researcher rasped out. "You will be coming with us. Take it away."
Take it away.
The guards moved forward. Danica scowled at them. The voices, having faded into the background, came back stronger than other. They were hissing and growling. Danica glared resentfully at the metal band around her wrist. No matter how hard she tried to reach out to her power, it remained as elusive as ever.
She couldn't escape into the shadows. The guards would gun her down. There was only one way forward.
Shrugging off the guards' hands, Danica fell into step with the researcher. It would be useless to ask any further.
She could tell things were different.
Her thoughts wandered back to Aurora. To the girl who would be waiting eagerly for her at the cafeteria.
I hope I can see her again.
A/N: Yep, I'm finally home. Here's our first batch of tributes! I enjoyed writing this chapter a lot. It'll be great to hear what you think!