Shado-Fox
Disclamer: The characters in Mutant X are not mine, I am only using them in my fiction.
An Eventful trip
Chapter 18The doctor leaves his niche to come near Shalimar. He doesn't understand how the young woman could have reacted like this, the request he had made was to fight not to slaughter his men. The control he must have over the mutant's mind must be total by now, yet when he ordered her to stop her attacks, she did not obey. It's strange. Nonetheless, he is more than satisfied with the combat capabilities of his two prisoners.
He looks at her, lying on the ground, her fists bleeding, the blood of his men… she is unconscious for the moment and he absolutely wants to examine her before she regains consciousness.
- " Drive Mr Mulwray to his jail for now " he asks two of his men, then " Bring Miss Fox to my laboratory " he asks Rafe and Al.
The two men approach her, a glint of suspicion in their eyes, they saw what this woman was capable of ... and despite their build, they don't feel safe now. Yet so far she hadn't shown superhuman strength, they had had no trouble controlling her. But there, it was not the same person, it was perhaps not even a human being ...
They bend down to lift her body and follow Doctor Nasyski to his den.
Meanwhile, two men in uniform lead Brennan to his barracks, let him in and close the lock. Brennan, left alone inside, remains motionless, without moving in the middle of the room… like a zombie, he has no will of his own and no order having been given to him, he waits…
In the doctor's laboratory, Rafe and Al install Shalimar on the chair reserved for " patients " then fix the ties on her wrists and ankles, and move away to leave the field free to the doctor.
The latter approaches and inspects the young woman without touching her at first. He then notices that the bandage he had made to hold her left arm is completely torn and no longer holds anything. He also notices dark stains on the bottom of the shirt, blood stains. He lifts one of the sides to see the wound in the abdomen. Nothing. The wound is still healing at an incredible rate. The blood with which it is covered is that of its adversaries. 'She has incredible strength and speed,' he said to himself, 'I knew organic mutants had animal traits but I never thought they could overpower them so well.'
He takes a flashlight, turns it on, then lifts Shalimar's eyelids. It is not her surprise when instead of seeing chocolate-colored pupils, golden shards appear !
'But how ? Mutant genes aren't supposed to be expressing themselves all the time ! ' does he think. 'There is something really wrong !'
He passed the light beam several times but no reaction was visible.
- " I don't see anything unusual, she is still under the control of drugs." He said to
Rafe and Al as if to reassure them and at the same time convince themselves of it. " Take her back to his jail with Mr. Mulwray but tie her up as a precaution." "
Rafe undoes the seat fasteners while Al takes a pair of irons which he places around the young woman's wrists. They lift her up and walk towards the prisoners' barracks. Followed by Doctor Nasyski.
Opening the door, Nasyski is not surprised to find Brennan in the same place as when his men left him. 'No surprise with this one at least ! He obeys really well as he should 'he thinks as he enters the room.
- " Place her on the straw mattress, I will come back soon to see how she is doing, when I have finished with Mr Mulwray." He said to his men.
Hearing his name Brennan turns her head towards the voice, as if awaiting instruction. A smile appears on Nasyski's face as he sees the mutant's reaction.
- " Mr Mulwray, very well, I see that you are listening attentively. You will follow me, I have plans for you immediately. He said quietly exiting the room, expecting to see Brennan stick him close as he turned around. But Brennan is still motionless, in the same place as before, turning her head a bit all over the place… " Okay, well we'll have to work on this until you get your sight back… " he said a little annoyed. He pulls back and grabs Brennan's elbow, guiding him to the exit.
- " Rafe, this girl scares me! Did you see the look she had earlier? It looked like a furious beast! And this force which she used to strike men on the ground… It makes me cold in the back!" Al told his colleague as soon as Nasyski disappeared with Brennan.
- " But it's nothing!" Al answers, in a voice that still rings false. " In any case, it's still just a woman, and then she's faced mops! With me it would have been much more difficult! You saw that suddenly I spread it out the other day!" He said smiling at the thought of the beating he gave Shalimar when they first met.
- " Yeah you must be right " said Rafe smiling in his turn, convinced now that the young woman would never make the weight in front of them anyway.
They then leave the barracks, taking great care to close the double-locked padlock.
Nasyski leads Brennan into a large room, equipped with sophisticated equipment for intensive training.
- " Good. Now you can practice a little Mr. Mulwray. You are very powerful but your current handicap is an embarrassment that will have to be overcome. For this I have developed a system that you will experience right away." He said to Brennan pointing him at a device far away from the rest.
" We will work on your speed of reaction and your perception of danger." He said, leaning over the device. When he gets up, a hum is heard in the room. " That's the object of the game. This machine will bombard you with balls, each ball is weighted with lead… as much to tell you that with the speed they are going to have, if you are hit you will feel it. So you will have to make sure to avoid them. Know that if at the beginning the flow is slow, the more it will go and the more the balls will leave in close ways. It's up to you to make sure you take shelter. "
He takes a sort of remote control in his hand, equipped with a potentiometer.
- " Go on Mr Mulwray. On guard." He watches Brennan get into position and presses the button, turning the fader to low.
A ball shoots out of the machine at Brennan, then a second. The lapse of time is approximately 7 seconds between each ball. Brennan receives the first one in the stomach but doesn't move, he avoids the second by a hair's breadth and then avoids some of the following ones but his movements are not smooth and he is immediately disoriented. He collects several balls, in the shoulder, forearm, thigh. Each time he tries to get back into position for the next but his eyes fail him and he loses his sense of direction. The pace increases and he avoids them less and less, he ends up retreating under the blows, leaving himself a little time to recover. He takes it without flinching and concentrates for a few seconds, letting the balls hit him, he searches for the source and tries to determine their displacement curve. Suddenly, against all expectations, he starts to move slowly but his movements become very fluid, he is almost surfing, the balls passing him to the side, above, between his legs. After a few minutes, the pace reached its peak and no more balls hit Brennan. He has found the rhythm and manages to perceive, despite his blindness, the movement of the balls, the hissing of the air.
Satisfied with the rapid progress of the young man, Doctor Nasyski turns off his infernal machine and approaches Brennan. He saw purplish marks appear at the places of the impact of the weighted balls, but nothing serious at first glance.
- " Very well !" I am extremely happy with the result! If you can do this blindfolded, you should be good at your able-bodied eyes! Perfect!" He places the remote control on the ground. "That will be all for today. I don't want you to be completely on your knees for the rest of the program. Follow me." He said as he walked away towards the exit. Turning around he has the satisfaction of seeing Brennan follow suit. 'Perfect perfect !'
He drives Brennan to the dining hall for food. Then takes him back to his jail so that he can rest there until the next day for the rest of his training.
Arriving in front of the barracks door, Nasyski opens the padlock and the door, he enters the room and perceives a strange noise, a sort of growl. He sees nothing but the noise intensifies as he enters the room.
Suddenly out of nowhere, Shalimar jumps on him. The shackled wrists narrowly miss Nasysky's neck. He just has time to step back and get behind Brennan.
- " Mr Mulwray attack!" He yells at Brennan while the latter remains impassive in the face of Shalimar's attack.
Shalimar who stands up slowly, her eyes fixed on Brennan, and on Nasyski hidden behind the back of this one… her eyes do not leave him as a louder growl emerges from his mouth.
- " Go ahead!" Nasyski continues to Brennan's attention. " Use your power and stop her! "
Brennan, under the injunction prepares a ball of electricity which he directs towards the source of the noise, Shalimar jumps narrowly to avoid the ray, which touches her lightly in the thigh. She falls back to the ground, ready to attack again when Brennan's beam hits her full force this time, sending her to the ground, unconscious.
- " Oh My God! But what's going on with her?" Nasyski yells as he comes out to call his men. " Rafe ! Al ! Right here !" He shouts to the attention of the two men.
The two men enter the room and see the young woman lying on the floor. They question each other but obey orders and transport her once again to the doctor's lab, leaving Brennan alone and locked up again.