Gilbert was extremely pissed off. He had only really been passed out for a few minutes, and then he quickly realized that he had some kind of resistance to whatever they were using. It wasn't exactly like he could move on his own or open his eyes, but he could hear and he was fully aware of what was going on around him. Kiku had taken him…somewhere, a place where the mutant wasn't exactly welcomed warmly. Gilbert was strapped down and it would have made him smirk if he could. They were terrified of him.
He was in some room for a while before this chick came in and started to look him over like a doctor. But something did chill him to the bone, and that was this constant talk about prepping him for…experiments. He had absolutely no idea what he was getting himself into here and there really was no way out of it. And then, all of a sudden, the idle chatter in the room was silenced all at once.
"Wake him up," a man said, loud and clear and that alone was enough to terrify Gilbert. Whatever was keeping him knocked out slowly lessened and Gilbert hated the fact that his breathing came out more ragged, showing that he was actually scared. As soon as he could move his arms, he tried to go against the restraints as best he could, but nothing budged. "It's putting up more of a fight than the last one." The man chuckled and Gilbert opened his eyes to glare at the person. He'd never seen this man before, but there was something…familiar about him. "You're even more of a freak than I thought you'd be."
"Fuck off," Gilbert growled out. The man simply smirked and slammed his fist into Gilbert's face. His nose snapped and blood spurted out, but Gilbert couldn't even move his head and so he settled with a simple glare.
"Elizabeta, start the first one," the man demanded and took a small step back. A girl stood in front of him and Gilbert immediately noticed the conflicted look in her eyes. In any case, she quickly stabbed a needle into Gilbert's arm and injected something. Immediately, pain coursed through him and he let out a cry. The pain only grew worse and it turned into screams. He fought more against the restraints and they groaned in protest, but still didn't budge.
Eventually, the pain subsided and the man definitely looked disappointed. Gilbert wanted to make some kind of snide comment, but couldn't bring himself to gather the strength to speak.
"The mutant gene is harder to get than I thought," the man sighed theatrically. "Do the next one when he's back to his full strength again. I have to go find a way to clean up your other mess."
The man left and it seemed like everyone in the room let out a breath of relief. But they were still on edge thanks to the mutant in the middle of the room. Gilbert glanced over and noticed that the woman, Elizabeta, was checking over his vitals.
"What are you doing?" Gilbert barely managed to whisper out. Elizabeta jumped before biting her lip and looking away from Gilbert. "What are these experiments?"
"We're trying to create something that will kill mutants and not humans," Elizabeta said quietly, barely even audible. "To save the rest of the world from your kind." It was almost like some kind of practiced speech, like she didn't really mean it. "I'm very sorry."
"Doesn't look like it," Gilbert scoffed. He felt himself finally returning to normal and the others in the room apparently took notice. There was another syringe in his arm within a minute.
Matthew was confused. He'd been watching the news for over an hour and there was nothing on Gilbert or Energy anywhere. It was like he just disappeared. And that put a very bad taste in Matthew's mouth. He'd already said his hellos to everyone, who were all happy to see him okay. Even Francis seemed to have gotten over his hatred of mutants and that made Matthew smile. But it definitely bothered Matthew. Gilbert had been gone for who knew how long and he hadn't popped up anywhere.
"I am sure he is just lying low," Francis offered. "For once, being in the spotlight is not in his best interest."
"I'm just…worried," Matthew muttered, glancing at Alfred, who was leaning against the wall closest to the kitchen, where Ivan was. Alfred knew the story and he knew exactly what Matthew was worried about. What if Gilbert had been taken by the same people that took Matthew? He hated keeping people in the dark about this, but he wasn't even sure what he was supposed to do.
"I'm sure he's fine," Arthur sighed. "He has a habit of getting himself in and out of trouble."
Matthew simply sighed and continued to watch the news. More and more criminals decided to use Energy's absence to do what they wanted and Matthew just wished that Gilbert would show up on at least one occasion. It wasn't exactly like the city was in chaos, but he had still played a part in it.
"I'm going to go for a walk," Matthew decided after a short while.
"Are you sure you want to go outside?" Antonio asked. "The crowd's died down by now, but…you know…"
"I wasn't on the news, no one knew I did anything to the school," Matthew shrugged and stood up to go to the elevator. "I'll be fine on my own, anyway."
"I can go with you if you want, bro," Alfred said, obviously looking uneasy. Matthew gave him a smile and a nod.
"I can protect myself a little better than last time, don't worry," Matthew smiled and entered the elevator. He was sure that it was just a matter of time before they sent someone after him, most likely Ivan, to make sure he stayed safe, so he would have to act quickly. He definitely remembered the building he had willingly walked out of a few days before to go to school and he knew how to get back there. He would just walk by…discreetly…and try to see if he could find out if Gilbert was there. Just in case. The thought made Matthew's stomach twist into knots as the elevator made it to the lobby. He nodded to the people that worked there and offered to open the door for him and Matthew thanked them.
He walked quickly with the hope that maybe the person they would send to follow him wouldn't be able to find him and he could maybe save another secret he knew. People walked around like normal while blood pumped in Matthew's ears, he was so nervous. If Gilbert really was in that building, what would Matthew do? Simply walk in and try to get him out?
Matthew nearly slowed to a stop when he realized just how close he was to the building. Would he even be able to get close to it? Or would he go running? No. He had to go inside if it was to help Gilbert. He couldn't let anything happen to him merely because these people hated mutants. It wasn't right.
Before long, Matthew stood in front of the building and he swallowed thickly. Now was the more difficult part. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He wasn't even sure if he could do something like this, but now would be the perfect time to figure it out. He centered his thoughts on that building and was pleasantly surprised when he figured out he could sense the people inside. He didn't know any of them, and he ignored the fact that he could easily peek into their minds. He turned his attention to the lower levels of the building, where their secrets were held. He searched until he eventually found that woman he remembered who was nice to him. She was going through a lot of mental stress and seemed very…conflicted at the moment.
And then Matthew heard the screams. He had found Gilbert's mind and he was in an incredible amount of pain and unable to move. Matthew immediately opened his eyes and severed the link he'd created and stared at the building ahead of him. He had to help Gilbert, whatever was happening to him. But what could he do? He hardly knew anything about his own abilities and what about those nanobots that were still inside of him? Couldn't they make him do anything?
Matthew clenched his hands into fists as he glared ahead. He had to do something, anything to get Gilbert out of there. Matthew really wished he had Ivan with him there. He'd told him that he was a mutant and, apparently, Alfred was surprised to find out that Ivan could control cold as well as heat. But a mutant that knew their abilities would be useful in that moment. Matthew bit his lip and carefully made his way into the building. It was filled with people in suits that went on with their business as if nothing was going on beneath their feet. He made his way to the elevator slowly and was happy to find that there was no one in it when the doors closed. Looking at the buttons, Matthew found that, oddly enough, there was only one button for the basement and there was a note on it that said "Out of Order".
Matthew decided to take his chances and pressed the button. The elevator began to move down for him and Matthew let out a shaky sigh. He could do this, it was okay. He wouldn't let himself get taken again, he was better this time than he was last time. He was fine. The door opened to an empty hallway that lead to what looked like another elevator, this one with scanners that most likely had the fingerprints or whatever it needed of the people that worked there. Matthew slowly walked up to it, biting his lip. There was no way he could get past this, he was no hacker and he didn't know any tricks. He was stuck.
And then the door opened. Matthew jumped and tried to step back, find some way to hide himself, but he was greeted by a woman that seemed extremely familiar. She had light brown hair that was tangled up into a web of knots, and her bright green eyes were shrouded over with bags. She looked exhausted, but seemed to perk up upon seeing Matthew.
They stood there for a moment, just staring at each other in awe, and then the woman gripped onto Matthew's shirt and pulled him into the elevator. Matthew squeaked and tried to get away and the woman carefully let him go as soon as the doors closed and they started moving down.
"Don't worry," the woman whispered, as if she was terrified of being caught. "I'm not going to hurt you again." Matthew recognized that voice, it was the woman that had been with him while he was there, being turned into a mutant. The only one that treated him with kindness. Matthew stayed on alert, keeping a good distance between the two. "You're here for Gilbert, right?"
"What are you going to do if my answer is yes?" Matthew asked carefully.
"I…" the woman bit her lip and looked away for a second before looking back at Matthew. "I want to stop what I've been doing. I-" The elevator stopped and the door opened and she immediately stopped talking. She gripped onto Matthew's wrist and pulled him into the hallway, filled with people with papers in their arms. She ran fairly quickly, oddly enough not attracting attention, and they entered and empty room, eerily similar to what Matthew could vaguely remember of his time there. "I'm sorry."
"I don't understand," Matthew shook his head. He was in the middle of enemy territory and one of the enemy was apologizing and maybe even offering help. This was a lot more stress than Matthew could handle. But he had to stay strong. For Gilbert.
"I came here because I hate mutants," the woman continued. "Well, more like hated. I only hated the mutants that killed my family and left me alive to suffer, but not all mutants. I've…done so much to so many mutants and I can't do it anymore. But I can't just leave and…I'm very sorry to what I did to you, but you need to trust me. I know where Gilbert is, don't worry, he's still safe and alive. I…I haven't been giving him the correct serums, he's been in no danger of dying. I will help you get him out of here."
"And what will happen to you if you do this?" Matthew asked. There was no way to describe it, maybe it had something to do with his new powers, but he trusted this woman. Wholeheartedly. She was telling the truth and had full intention of helping them.
"I may be killed?" she guessed. "I think that is the least I can do to make up for what I've done here."
"Fine, what did you have in mind?"
I give Matthew all of the props for doing this on his own. This chapter was kinda hard for me, because I didn't have a lot planned, I figured that out when I started writing Matthew's part. I was kind of just like, "well shit I'm only at 500 words" and I started going in a place I didn't know I'd be going. Anyway, we're on track no matter what, and I'm going to be honest, I think there's maybe ten more chapters left? Give or take? Maybe a max of 15, that's my guess. Either way, be excited because it keeps heating up from here!
Please review!