Here's another for you!
Mornings have always been my favorite part of the day. Those first few seconds when you first wake up, to those first few minutes when you lie in bed totally at peace. Curled up tight in my blankets in the winter or sprawled out in a tank top in the summer, I never really cared. The idea of waking up to a whole new day was incredibly refreshing for me. So you would think that someone who loves waking up so much wouldn't have such a problem opening her eyes after a few hours' sleep.
Well let me tell you…waking up after a natural and peaceful eight hours is significantly different from waking up after being rendered, in a not so pleasant manner I might add, unconscious by a man so terrifying you still have nightmares about him as an adult. Before I even opened my eyes, I knew I was in trouble. I tried to keep my breathing even in case I was being watched. Just because I was awake, didn't mean I wanted anyone else to know it.
When I failed to hear anything apart from my own shallow breaths, I slowly opened my eyes and cringed under the dim lighting. Probably a concussion, I thought. I sat up gently hoping not to upset my head further, and looked around. I was alone in a small room on an even smaller cot in the very center. I rolled my neck and looked down. I was no longer wearing my outfit from New Orleans, but a grey jumpsuit. I shuddered as I tried not to think about who had changed my clothes while I was out.
I glanced over my body looking for any injuries and noticed a cotton ball taped to the inside of my elbow where a bruise was forming. I grimaced. They had taken blood. I remembered vaguely Freddy and John telling us Stryker had been experimenting on mutants; is that what was happening now?
"Stryker!" I called, causing my own ears to ring. I squeezed my eyes closed and put a hand to my head with a sigh. "Stryker!" I called again. I looked up and noticed the small camera zooming in on me. I stood up and moved to the door in the corner. I turned the handle and was amazed to find it unlocked. I took one last look at the camera still watching me, and sighed. If the door was unlocked, Stryker wanted me to get out. He was expecting me.
I peeked my head out the door and saw no guards waiting. I took one cautious step into the hallway and waited for alarms and gunfire, but none came. "What the fuck…" I muttered. Where was everyone?
I moved silently through the halls desperate to find an exit I knew I wouldn't find. I was alive for a reason, but what that reason was, I had no clue. After a few minutes with only my footstep to keep me company, I began to hear voices. They sounded frightened. I picked up my speed, knowing instinctively I was not the only one being held against their will. Even I didn't expect the sight I came upon.
Dozens of people held in small cages that varied in construction person to person. One boy was harnessed to the floor, ceiling, and bars and bounced to and fro with the speed of light. A young boy had a steel covering locked over his eyes for some reason. And one girl sat in the middle of a cage I could was lined with electrical wiring. I felt my stomach drop. These were the mutants Freddy had talked about. These were children…not hardened criminals. Barely any looked to be older than me.
I felt bile rise from my stomach, but I forced it back down. I ran to the closest cage that contained a young blonde woman. "I'm getting you out," I said forcefully.
"Run, just run," she insisted looking over her shoulder. "Please."
I just shook my head. "Stand back," I ordered as I took a step back myself. I rubbed my hands together and prepared to blast the side of the cage away, but just as I felt my power surge, I dropped to the ground screaming.
My head was splitting. There was no way my head was not being cut in two. I crushed my hands to my head as I screamed. The pain was so horrific, I thought for sure I would die. Hell, I wanted to die. Finally after what felt like an eternity, the burning and ripping sensations subsided, and I allowed myself to collapse fully onto the floor. I tried to look up at the girl I failed so miserably at helping, but couldn't stand to use my eyes.
"Nadya, did you really expect me to let you wander this facility completely unchecked? Do you not know me at all?" I cringed and made myself return to kneeling position. I would know that voice until the day I died and long after the world ended.
"Hey Colonel," I greeted coldly, finally raising my eyes to face him. "Long time no see."
He chuckled and moved forward, hand outstretched. I ignored it as I pushed myself up. Much to my own irritation, I stumbled and felt Stryker steady me. "It's hard to believe. We've come full circle, you and I. I picked you up off the ground all those years ago, and here I am picking you up of the ground twelve years later." I scoffed and pulled my arm away.
"And I'm betting twelve years later, you're still a dick." I gestured to the cages around me. "Oh hey look, I was right!" I cried. "What did you do to me?"
"Oh just a little something to make sure you're not tempted to use your gift against me. Remember when that was used to protect me and the team?" I only glared. "Of course then you left the team…and blew up our plane on your way out. Did it hurt, getting that scar on your back?" he asked cruelly, his sickening smirk still etched on his face.
I remained silent. "Viktor was right," he continued, pacing in front of me all the while. "You have grown up. Look at you," he said with a gesture. He looked almost proud at that moment, and I gritted my teeth to keep from screaming.
"You've turned into a beautiful young lady. Strong, intelligent, brave…trying to help those around you." He motioned toward the people behind me once more. "To think that's because of me." At that I actually laughed.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" I cried with a roll of my eyes. "In what way have you affected my current state of being apart from forcing guns in my hands and stealing my family? I am here today, because of Logan and myself…not because of you. Jesus Christ…" I shook my head and released another small laugh. "What's sick," I added, "is that you actually believe what you're saying…God."
Stryker raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Let's take a walk, shall we?"
"And why would I go anywhere with you?" I asked seriously.
"Excellent question!" he exclaimed, causing me to jump. "I suppose because I am done with these people behind you. I could just start shooting them in the heads one by one until you obey." I glanced over my shoulder and shook my head.
Turning to Stryker, I couldn't help but mutter, "I hate you."
He only sighed and turned, knowing I would follow. "I really wish you didn't. You would have been an excellent asset."
Releasing a heavy sigh I started after Stryker. "Are you going to kill me?" I asked blankly while he led me into a large open room. "Because in the past few years I've become quite fond of James Bond movies, and one thing I've learned is that the dickweed villain, aka you, always goes on and on about his shitty plan before dealing with James. I would rather die in some horrific act of violence than listen to your voice a second longer."
When he began to laugh, I glared at Stryker's back. Finally he turned. "Nadya, may I say that you are infinitely more entertaining than you were when you were twelve?" I rolled my eyes.
"Really!" he insisted. Instead of stuttering around me and mooning over Wade, you have actually found a spine. Good for you." I felt myself blush at the mention of my crush and felt utterly humiliated.
"Yeah well hitting puberty, surviving on the streets, and spending time with decent people tends to make a person grow up…and not in the shooting people sort of way, but the acting like a human being sort of way."
He ignored my response and continued his own conversation. "In answer to your question, by the way, no, I am not going to kill you…not yet anyway." He shot me another smile. "Logan will be coming for you; that is a certainty. And I believe he'll be a bit more level headed if you don't have a bullet between your eyes."
"He's not-"
"Not that stupid?" he finished for me with a laugh. "Of course he is! Now not only is he looking for revenge, but he needs to rescue you…you who he dragged into this whole affair. Because really, we had stopped looking for you a while ago. You could have continued whatever pathetic little life you had created for yourself had Logan not gone to you." I could feel stomach churn at the guilt Logan was sure to feel.
"But he did go to you, he did involve you, and now here you are." Stryker gestured grandly to the large space we had found ourselves in. "Back where you started…only this time you're alone." He took a step closer to me and I instinctively stepped backward only to be halted by a large mass behind me.
I felt Viktor's hot breath on my hair as I tried to slip between the two men, but he had tight hold on my shoulders. "Let me go," I ordered, trying not to let my fear show in my voice. "Just let me go." I winced as Viktor's nails dug into my skin.
"Viktor, show Nadya to her new lodgings please." I let out a yelp as Viktor shoved me forward. "And as soon as this is over, do what you like with her. It won't matter anymore…"
"What?" I cried as Viktor gave a bark of laughter. "Please…please!" Stryker only turned away, as Viktor pulled me along back to the room with the cages.
I tried to fight back as I was shoved into a cage next the teenage boy whose eyes were still covered up. All I got was a slap on the face and a kick in the stomach. "See you soon, little girl…" I let loose a scream and slew of expletives as Viktor walked away with a smirk. When I finally stopped to take a breath, the boy next to me spoke up.
"I don't think that's helping…" I shot the boy next to me a glare, though I knew he couldn't see it.
"Well thank you for your input Starshine, I guess I'll just sit back and relax then," I replied angrily, shaking the bars in front of me.
"So what exactly do you plan on doing?" the woman from earlier asked. "I'm Emma by the way." I sighed as I looked around my small cell and turned to Emma.
"Well Emma…I'm working on that. "Hey either of you know how long I've been here?"
"Yeah they brought you in a couple of hours ago. You were out cold," Emma replied, motioning toward the hallway I had come in through earlier.
I snorted. "Well obviously…" I muttered. I sat down on the cot and laid back.
"What are you doing?" the boy asked.
"Wallowing," I groaned. "Wallowing in the knowledge that my death is likely very imminent, that the one person who I consider a friend is on is way here and will probably die too, and the fact that all this could have been avoided had I not been a little bitch when I was nine…or at least a few hours ago when Viktor nabbed me from the ass end of some seedy bar in New Orleans."
We sat in silence for the next hour, for which I was grateful. No, I didn't have a plan. No, I wasn't going to stop complaining. No, I was not going to make friends with my fellow prisoners. As much as I loved the idea of getting to know some new people before I was shot…I was more interested, as I told the boy, in wallowing. I had found it was something I was quite adept at…I might as well hone the skill.