When I started to regain consciousness, my first thought was that my bed was uncomfortable. It might as well be hard ground. And it was cold.
It took a few tries to get my eyes to open, thankfully the room wasn't bright.
Sitting up, I grimaced as a headache made itself known. I glanced around.
At first I was confused, wasn't I outside? I had been running from Marcus, if I remembered correctly.
Now I'm inside and looking around again, I noticed that I had metal bars surrounding me. I was in some sort of cage. I couldn't see beyond this since there was only a single light bulb on the metal roof of my prison that gave off little light.
How did I get here? I clenched my jaw at the conclusion I came too. Marcus must have caught me somehow. But why did he imprison me?
With these questions filling my head I got up from the floor and had to grab one of the bars to steady myself when the room spun for a few moments.
I felt a slight pain come from my back and chalked it up to sleeping on the floor until the memory came back of something hitting me while running. That brought another series of questions.
Only I wasn't going to stick around to find out the answers. Even though I felt like crap, I needed to find a way out.
Since I lived in a sketchy neighborhood to begin with, I wasn't as scared as some would normally be in this situation. Spotting the padlock on the cell door I instantly came up with a plan.
Fortunately I knew fifteen ways to pick a lock
So despite the pounding in my head, I reached for one of the bobby pins that I had in my hair and got to work.
It only took less than a minute for me to hear a click and the lock opened. This was too easy. And I wasn't going to complain about that. The tricky part was finding an exit since it was pitch black.
I took slow and careful steps with my arms out to prevent running into anything.
After a minute or so of creeping forward my fingers grazed something in front of me and I froze. My hands gripped a soft material which only meant one thing. Someone was standing there.
I shoved whoever was there hiding in the dark and took off in the opposite direction. But the person didn't fall like I'd hoped and footsteps quickly caught up with mine. Next thing I knew one arm was twisted behind me painfully and my knees were forced to bend so I was kneeling on the ground. I tried struggling but this mystery person had a strong grip and wouldn't budge.
A sinister chuckle from them made a shiver go down my spine. It was a male voice.
"Who are you? What do you want? " I demanded harshly.
"Take a wild guess. " When he spoke, I closed my eyes and let out a harsh breath.
"Marcus!" I hissed. Another chuckle from him made my blood boil. "You kidnapped me."
"Way to point out the obvious. " I was going to bite back with my own remark but suddenly the room flooded with light and I had to squeeze my eyes shut, hissing as it made my headache intensify. "Oops, should have warned you. " It was clear he didn't feel bad at all and once I could open my eyes I gave him the coldest glare I could muster.
I was confused - among other things- at how much stronger Marcus was. He was the same size as Chase, I should be able to take him down easily.
"Why am I here?" I demanded through gritted teeth.
"My dad will explain everything. " Marcus replied simply. He pulled me to my feet while keeping his tight grip on my wrists.
Taking a chance I kicked my leg back and striked Marcus' shin. It stunned him enough to where I was able to yank myself free and make a run for it a second time. I'd spotted a door and tried to reach it.
But just as I was almost to the door a giant wooden box came from the left out of nowhere and blocked the exit. I skidded to a halt before I slammed into it.
"You're not going anywhere. " Marcus said from behind and I swiveled around to face him.
"How did-" I shook my head. " You know I don't care. You can't keep here forever."
"Oh please. I beat you once, I can do it again. " Marcus said with a smirk.
My jaw clenched and my eyes darted around for another way out. I noticed a window to the right but thirty feet away. But Marcus looked where I did and smirked. "I dare you to try. " He taunted. He was challenging me, and I didn't like losing a fight. My pride made me give in and I started running as fast as I could hoping to out run him. Like that worked last time.
I was about to reach the window, a strange yet familiar feeling ripped through me and I fell to the ground, stunned. I was barely able to put my hands out to stop my head from hitting the ground too hard.
My vision faded in and out but I didn't lose consciousness like last time.
"What.. was... that " I managed to ask in between shaky breaths, my entire body trembling. I didn't know if it was in fear or from whatever hit me.
"I told you I could beat you again. " Marcus said, not answering my question.
"What do you and your dad want with me? " I demanded with a stronger voice, though I suspected he wouldn't give me a direct answer. I was right.
"If you stop trying to run you'll find out. Though I am enjoying this. " I grunted while lifting the upper half of my body to where I rested on my forearms, refusing to look at Marcus who enjoyed seeing me in pain.
I remembered him mentioning his father and wondered who he was.
I didn't have to wait that long to find out. When I heard the sound of the door opening I got onto my wobbly legs and turned to face him fully, not afraid to see who he was.
At first glance I knew he was bad news. He wasn't tall, even with his light brown hair spiked that added three extra inches. Nor was he very muscular. It was his dark eyes that made me on edge, the evil glint sending an involuntary shiver down my spine. They were the eyes of a mad man.
The mystery man walked towards us, not saying a word, just staring directly at me with a hint of a smirk on his lips. He stopped about ten feet away and still didn't say anything.
"Are you gonna say something or just keep staring at me like a creep?" I asked, hating the silence. My question got a reaction out of the man and he smirked while replying.
"Marcus wasn't kidding. You do have an attitude. " His voice was gravelly and unpleasant.
"Yeah well he isn't a walk in the park himself. But like father like son I guess. " I retorted, fists clenching as my mind told me to be less snippy. "Now who are you? "
"You don't recognize me, do ya? " He asked, tilting his head while studying me.
"I think I'd remember if someone has kidnapped me before. " I said in a duh tone. He shrugged and brushed off my bluntness.
"Oh well. I have you now, that's all that's important." The way he said this, like kidnapping me wasn't a big deal, irked me.
"And what exactly do you plan to do? Kill me? Or hold me for some kind of ransom? Because let me tell you, there isn't anyone on this planet who cares enough to pay for my freedom." That made me sound really pathetic, but it was true. But I don't need anyone. Being alone protected me from getting hurt.
The man hummed and scratched his chint. "I hadn't thought about a ransom." He said thoughtfully and then he shrugged it off. "But I have other plans for you." He took a couple steps forward as his gaze hardened. "See, you have something that belongs to me."
"Oh really? And what would that be?" My eyes widened in panic as a thought came to mind. "Oh no, please don't say you're my father. I can't be related to Mr. Eyebrow over there. " The man chuckled while Marcus looked at me from a desk that was located by the door where he'd been doing something on a laptop and glared coldly at me.
"No, I'm not your dad. " I was relieved despite being in this situation. Speaking of which, I winced when the pain of whatever was shot at my shoulder became apparent. The man noticed this and winced too. "Don't worry, I've got something for burns. I told Marcus to not injure you. " The last sentence was directed to his son and Marcus rolled his eyes.
"You said do whatever I could to get her here and I did. And did I get a thank you? No. " His father rolled his eyes.
"It was my idea, hot shot. " He shot back. He noticed the look I gave him and ended the argument. "Anyways, we should probably treat that before we get to work. "
"I'm not accepting anything from you. What did you shoot anyways? " Marcus addressed me from the desk.
"Want me to show you? " He asked with a cruel smirk. His dad put a hand out.
"No Marcus. " He said firmly.
"She's going to find out at some point. " Marcus pointed out, crossing his arms with a look of defiance.
"Excuse me." I interjected, "Still here. Find out what? " The dad glanced between the two of us and then nodded reluctantly.
"Fine. But no showing off. " As the two of them were looking with annoyance at the other I saw a chance.
"You know what, I'm just gonna go. " I said and I ran around my kidnapper to go to the window I originally planned to escape.
But I again didn't make it.
Marcus appeared in front of me out of nowhere and my hair flew back when a gust of wind followed. I stumbled a few steps back in surprise and my eyes darted across the room where Marcus had been only a second ago. I gaped at Marcus.
"How did you? " Marcus smirked and shared a look of amusement with his dad.
"You wanna know how I took you down twice? " I tensed when he raised his right hand and got into a defensive stance.
Electricity began to crackle on his fingertips and I looked on in shock as the electrical currents grew bigger. I couldn't believe what I was seeing as Marcus brought his hand back and then threw a sphere of electricity like it was a baseball. Gasping, I ducked at the last minute and it flew over my head and exploded when it hit the cage.
Even though I wasn't running I found herself breathing heavily.
"Surprise. Marcus is an android. Pretty cool huh? "
"Cool?!" I exploded, finally losing it." You're telling me this creep isn't even human? "
"Call me one more name and you won't be either. " I couldn't even think of a comeback, still trying to process all of this. Should've listened to Leo.
"Ok, enough talking. I've got work to do. Marcus put her back in the cage. " Marcus nodded but I backed away from the pair, becoming defensive again.
"I'm not staying. You can use whatever freakish abilities you have, but it's not going to stop me. " These were empty threats though. I didn't even have time to run because Marcus super sped me into the cage before I could blink. I'd seen Bree do this so it didn't shock me as much but it still made my heart skip a beat.
"You have super speed too. Great. " I said, more to myself but Marcus chuckled darkly.
"That's just a tip of the iceberg sweetheart. Maybe I can show you my other abilities later. With you being the target of course."
"Marcus! Let's go. " Marcus rolled his eyes and sighed before leaving me with one final smirk and joining his dad as they left me alone in the dark to let everything sink in.
Somehow I felt the situation was only going to get worse. Boy I hoped I was wrong.