I wake up to find that I'm laying down on a cold metal table. In my drousy state I wonder how I got here.
I look to the left where there was light and see the glass tube. Then I remember that I'd been locked inside it but was drawing a blank on anything after that.
Gradually becoming more alert, I start trying to put the pieces together. I must have been knocked out again which means Douglas could have done whatever he wanted with me. Now I'm beginning to panic and went to sit up but found I couldn't.
I strain my head to look down at my body and see that I'm kept down by restraints. Grounding my jaw I squirmed to try and break free.
To my surprise, when I yanked my right arm the restraint snapped in half without any problem. It might as well have been a strand of hair.
A line formed on my forehead. If Douglas wanted me to not break free he should have used a stronger material, even though it was leather it must have been old and worn for it to break that easily.
The ones on my other arm and ankles came apart just as easily and I pulled the one around my middle straight out of the screws that attached it to the table.
This was so easy that I questioned if Douglas was fooling me into thinking I could make a run for it only to be attacked for his own amusement.
Or maybe he didn't know that the restraints would break and I had an actual chance to get away. I'll be hopeful and go with the latter.
Getting onto my feet I frowned. Now that I'm up and moving something felt off internally. I can't really describe what I was feeling, but there was definitely something weird about it.
I can worry about it later.
I made a run for the door, only to come face to face with Douglas when it was opened. He crossed his arms with an amused smile.
"Going somewhere?" He asked mockingly and I clenched my jaw while backing away as he walked in.
"I was hoping." I retorted, angry at myself for even thinking I could get away so easily.
"Oh come on, am I that bad of a host?" He asked with fake hurt.
"I was strapped to a hard table! So yeah. And by the way, next time you should use something stronger if you want to hold me down. " Yeah, give him advice on how to restrain you. Good one Harper.
Douglas smirked.
"I did that on purpose. The fact you were able to break them shows that it worked. "
My brows snapped together in confusion. "What do you mean by that?" I asked carefully.
"I could tell you, but I think I'd rather show you. Clap your hands. " This was a bizarre request and I shook my head while looking at him like he'd grown a second head. "Come on, nothing bad is going to happen to yah. "
"No."
"Just do it! " I involuntarily jumped at the outburst. Hiding my sudden fear of the man I rolled my eyes but decided to listen to him. If he wanted me dead he'd done it by now. What's the worst that could happen?
So I clapped my hands once. That strange feeling my body had grew stronger and I was not expecting my clap to create a shock wave that made the entire house shake on its foundation.
I stood there frozen and could care less about how the ground shook like there was an earthquake or tha a large chunk of the cement roof had landed next to me. My ears rang but that didn't affect me either.
What just happened?
Eventually the house stilled and I found my voice and it was dangerously low. "What did I just do? " Douglas peaked over his computer desk where he'd taken cover after I'd unleashed the shock wave, with an umbrella to prevent getting coated in the cloud of dust that rained down from the ceiling.
"You just demonstrated the Bionic Thunderclap. It's one of your new abilities. Pretty cool huh?" I didn't pay attention to that last remark. One word from the first sentence replayed in my mind.
"Bionic!" I yelled furiously and Douglas looked afraid for a moment. Even an evil sociopath was intimidated by my anger. "You gave me bionic abilities?!" He stood up and closed the umbrella.
"Uh yes, yes I did. " I was breathing heavily and gave him the coldest glare I could muster. "You don't seem too happy about that. " he observed, rubbing his chin.
"Oh, I'm more than not happy. " I spit out, fists clenching. "How is this possible? How could you do this to me?!" Douglas held out the hand that wasn't holding the umbrella with a panicked expression.
"Ok, you gotta stay calm, I haven't worked out all the bugs and if you glitch it could get ugly. "
"Oh you will be once I'm done with you." Before I could run to the desk and rip out Douglas' over gelled hair, a pair of hands grabbed a hold of my arms and held me back.
"Calm down sweetheart before you hurt yourself. " Marcus said and more anger bubbled up inside since he used a nickname that I despised.
Anger flooded my veins as I struggled against Marcus and overtook me.
Suddenly my eyes started to heat up and then I was unable to see anything. I heard a zap and then Douglas cry out in pain. As the heat subsided and my vision cleared I could see Douglas clutching his left shoulder where smoke was rising.
"Should have warned you about the laser eyes." Douglas said gruffly while rubbing his shoulder.
"Laser eyes?! " I shouted.
"Could you stop with the yelling? It's annoying and might attract unwanted attention from the neighbors. " I glared over my shoulder at Marcus.
"You would be shouting too if you found out that a mad man made you into a bionic freak! " He smirked like I had just told a joke.
"He did turn me into a 'bionic freak'."
I scoffed humorlessly. "You're just a bucket of bolts and wires. I was totally normal and now I'm not." I glared at Douglas again while saying the last part.
" I wouldn't say you're a bionic freak." Douglas said, trying to calm ne down, but it didn't work.
"You're not getting away with this. I'm gonna find a way to find a way out of here and you'll be wishing you'd never messed with me. " Instead of cowering like he had a minute ago, Douglas chuckled and I stopped being angry for a moment to look at him confused. What was so funny?
"Actually, you won't do that. " he stated and I raised an eyebrow.
"And give me a good reason why. " I countered, a fresh swell of anger beginning to rise in me.
"Well, you could rat me out and I'd be put in jail. But then you'd be ruining your own life. The government will arrest you. "
I told myself that Douglas was lying to get in my head.
He continued. "Why do you think the world doesn't know about Adam, Bree, and Chase? Because if word got out that there were bionic people, the government will take you. Imagine what they'll do to you to figure out how your bionics work."
"Worse than what you're doing?" I asked harshly.
"Oh what I'm doing is nowhere near as bad as the authorities will. Trust me. I invented bionics and know everything while they don't."
I looked to the floor as he told me this. I didn't want to believe him.
But could I really expect the world to let me live freely when I harnessed these abilities that could easily injure someone like I just did with Douglas?
My body went limp as I gave up trying to get away from Marcus, my rage subsiding and being replaced with reluctant defeat.
Douglas was unfortunately right.
Said man noticed the hopeless look I wore.
"Come on, this won't be bad as long as you keep this secret, especially from the Davenports." I nodded numbly.
What could I say anyways? Douglas has power over me now, and there was nothing I could do.
Not if I wanted to live a life outside of a jail cell or some government facility.
My life just went from bad to worse.
Yep. Harper is now a bionic superhuman. I've been impatient to get to this part because it's a dramatic turn in Harper's life.
I'll be uploading the next chapter either later tonight or tomorrow.
