"You saw what she did there..."
"Yes, I was informed..."
"What do we do know? Under her current condition, I don't want her in my team. She already had a second chance, and of course, she blows it again. We questioned her, but she won't cooperate..."
"I. Know. Don't act like I don't."
"If we kill her... it would be a waste-" A strange man slowly enters the room.
"Send her to me."
"...Director?"
"She could be useful to me. I need more subjects. I am currently developing a new sample of a stronger toxin that could prove to be beneficial on your future raids to come. Just imagine... such miraculous sight to behold. Remarkable... simply remarkable..."
"...Very well... Take her with you."
"I thank you. *cough* You will not be disappointed."
"Hmm... one more..."
Pain. It was present. It existed. But not here. Not where she was. She was nowhere. Struggling to maintain her body and mind inside the void for as long as she could, Wraith was sharpening her control and focus of her abilities. Preparing herself for a possible escape of this confinement, a large electronic buzz fills the room, distracting Wraith. She comes back, tumbling to the floor. The voice speaks, "You're doing well. With these abilities, we will be out of here in no time, h-hey what's wrong?" Wraith regains her composure, grabbing her right arm which was in pain and shaking. "It's just, my arm. It's fine...". "Are you over doing it?", the voice says. "You should keep your energy saved for the real thing, you will need it." "Right".
Wraith, still with her uniform, picks the tray of food, places it on the bed and lays on the floor. Looking at the ceiling and wondering, 'How the hell am I supposed to escape from this place...?' The voice reads her mind and replies, "We will have to improvise. We'll see how things go as we go through. There has to be a way out. But in the process, we will have to lay low. So to get out of this cell, we can't alert anyone. Or they'll porbably barricade our only exists and corner us." Wraith, with a small smile says, "I can't imagine what could be outside of these walls. Cities, far, infinite lands, people, planets, galaxies. I know that I have seen them, as a soilder. But I want to see them free. And maybe uncover myself too... That would be nice." "Same", says the voice. A moment of silence is held between the two.
"Ready? So, what are you gonna do first?"
On a large lab room, a man in his labcoat and mask prepares multiple samples of different kinds, all seperated on glass containers. The man grinds some of the samples just to mix them with others. He filters the result, and proceeds to ignite a bunsen burner to heat it up at a slow rate. He waits, until the right time comes.
"The perfect results require... patience", he says to himself, with a hint of excitement. The mixture, now a dark liquid, begins to boil with life. He grabs a sample with a large tube sampler to properly filter the mixture. He contemplates his creation as he pours it in a mug. He holds it, and slowly takes a drink.
"Aaahh, perfection. And yet, my intelligence is underestimated." Another man comes through, showing small signs of desperate conflict. "Director." "Ahh, Commander Goodfellow," replies the director. He grabs another empty mug. "Would you care for some coffee? Freshly brewed just now." "No... thank you," the commander politely declines. "I came here to bring up Unit 722. Your new... subject." "Ah, yes. We met on the Mayor's deck. I was informed of what happened. I saw this as an opportunity for my new research. Wasting such a life with so much potential is utterly... ridiculous. Potential, for my findings, of course... Are you interested?" "No no, actually I am not," the commander slowly begins to walk around the room. "I am not interested in your... useless research." "How dare you? I, am a man of science!", the director says while slamming the table.
He, slowly but with intimidation, approaches the commander. "Know your place, Commander... I know mine." The captain, standing his ground explains, "Oh, I know mine, very, well Director. In fact, I know yours too. I know how, you like to keep alive your little, pets just a while longer for your so-called research. You know what I call that? It's called torture. I know what's behind your, intelligence. All of this... just an excuse to enjoy yourself. You, your toys. And everything else that you create." "Test me," says the Director with wide open eyes, "I encourage this." For a matter of seconds, they just stand there. Staring at each other. Just to see who would make the first move. The director's hand was right next to his pocket, were a small container containing his new creation resided. The commander in the other hand, was ready to draw with his custom-made pistol.
This moment was broken when the captain began speaking again, "I only have one small request for you, Director. With your new subject? Just make it quick. Remember, she is special forces. She is not a force to be reckoned with-" he is quickly interrupted "I disagree. In my personal opinion, under the circumstances she is in, I believe that exact fact is the most culminative part of my little test. Just imagine all the possibilites... Two solid branches of science. Quantification. Toxicology. A distorted mess. Yet something I would not dare to miss. Ofcourse, it all ends the same way... with me observing. She is just adding more... entertainment." "Right", the commander replies almost intrigued by the Director's words. "Just don't do anything stupid." The Director turns and prepares to take his leave to look for his new subject.
He stops at the door. "I do not care for your ambitions, neither for the consequences. With all honesty, I cannot hold my excitement for whatever happens next." The door opens. "However. You made an attempt on my research. Do not think I will forget this. Have my word, you will see how science is accurate... as I am."
On Wraith's cell, she prepares herself to take her leave. She takes one last look at the cell. The same, white room that has hold her down for so long, and begins. She closes her eyes, focuses, and reaches. A portal opens on the wall opposite to the door. One more. "Here goes nothing," says Wraith as she makes her way to the door. She knocks hard and multiple times, hoping for the guard to open the slide. As expected. In less than a fraction of a second, Wraith began to analyze the possibility. The space of the slide was small enough for her hand to go through. She just had to time it right. The guard's face would come in view, and all she had to do was hit him to disorient him and focus to place the second portal. However, she began having doubts of herself. Would she have enough time to focus and place the portal after hitting the guard? Would she actually be able to leave this hellhole in one piece? These doubts and questions were projected as voices, distant, but slowly consuming Wraith's mind. "You can do this," said the voice. "Remember, this is your only chance." Reassured, she goes for it.
"Unit 722, what is i- ough!" The guard was hit in the nose perfectly centered. Slowly losing his composure, he falls back. Focus. It seemed like an endless fall covered in darkness for the guard, until he fell on his feet. He was not actually falling. He did not even move. From what he was doing before, he was regaining his composure. Confused looking at a wall, he turns and aims just to meet another clean hit in the face. The man with blood running down his nose falls with ease, and the portal closes. "Nice moves," the voice says. "His gear dosen't fit you really well..." "I guess I'll have to do this the hardway," says Wraith while picking up his weapons and his security card. "You know... I know it's not the time but, I'm sorry if I doubted you," says Wraith while opening the door with the card. "It's fine, really. Would've done the same. After all, we are equ-wait. Wait, hold it." Wraith stops outside of her cell, just to meet another door in the end of a short hallway, bigger and thicker than her cell door. "Something. No. Someone. Someone is coming. Quick, get back. If they manage to report what's happening, we're done."
The doors open. A man slowly creeps in and the doors immediately close loudly. Their lock mechanisms can be heard being attached again. The man's footsteps echo in the small hallway towards the cell. Immediately after entering his card, the door opens, and gunshots go off from the cell. But there's no one at the door. Just an open cell door with bullet marks everywhere. 'Where is he?!', Wraith thinks to herself while slowly approaching the door and maintaining her aim at it. "Go! Now! This is your chance!", the voice quickly says. "Right!" Wraith phases herself into the void and goes for it. But he was expecting it. A shaped-like grenade was thrown inside the cell and immediately spreads a blue gas filling the cell at a rapid rate. He could see how the gas moved itself rapidly towards the hallway, as if it had a mind of its own. A thud echoed in the hallway, and she appeared again. In the floor, Wraith struggles to keep herself conscious. Her eyes open and close randomly, and her body slowly gets heavier. "Wraith! Stay with me! Come on, we are almost out of this!" But it is of no use. Her voice seems distant. Her mind slowly erasing itself. The man slowly crouches in front of her. "Underestimate me? Big, mistake...". Those were the last words she heard as she drifted to sleep.
Suddenly the doors opened again, with a handful of heavy armored troops surrounding the room from all angles. They all stood down and began securing the hallway. "Director, she's unconscious."
"Send her to my room," the director says while leaving the hallway. He could not help but smile behind the mask for the possibilities waiting for him.
Darkness. And cold again. But she was awake. She slowly open her eyes. Illuminated by a single white light in what seemed to be a very small room where almost 10 people could fit. There was one window and the rest after was just darkness. Until he, appeared. The light from the room reflected on him. He just, stared. Looked around the room where Wraith was, and appeared to be taking notes of his own. He placed his book on his pocket, and reached for a button in his wrist. Large yellow discs dropped from a slide on the top of one of the walls. They clanked on the metal floor and fell randomly. Wraith stood up rapidly and attacked the window. She did so multiple times, with no use. The man pressed another button, and they began to inflate as what it seemed as black bags, almost instantaneously. Some inflated too close together that Wraith collided with them and lost her balance.
She turned and regretted doing so. She witnessed a face that scarred her that very moment. The man, with wide open green eyes just stared. Studying Wraith as if it was a piece of art. But to him, it was much more. Behind that mask there could be a smile of enjoyment or a frown of anger. She would never know. But it did not matter. She was trapped, and with no other options. She looked to all directions for a possible exit. Nothing. "Wraith!" The voice could not do anything. But watch over her. "Wraith, I-", "Is this... it?!", Wraith softly speaks. "I though I was... I need to. I can't. It can't... why... Why?! Answer me!", Wraith says while slamming the window. "...why can't all of you just leave me...?"
In that instant, unexpected by Wraith, the man suddenly speaks, "Withouth the pain, the body suffers," said the Director with a reassuring voice, as he got closer to the window, "omitting... the entertainment." One last button was pressed. The bags start releasing a horrendous gas from a small pipe system inside each one. The room is slowly filled by it, with Wraith contained by the walls. She starts coughing uncontrollably, slowly unable to breathe normally. "Please... don't. I can't... I can't die like this... hey... say something... voice?... Please... don't... don't leave... I don't... want to die...
...alone...