Limitless

Chapter 14 - Unedited

We land on a pile of rubble.

I lose my footing as the room is engulfed in dust participles, the air turning brown. I land uncomfortably on my side, my hand smearing against a gowy substance between the rubble. I cough uncontrollably as I rise and dust myself off. I make a point not to look at the substance on my hand as I wipe it on the side of my suit. 

I swat my hands in front of my eyes as my coughing subsides. My vision clears as I see captain Hans has fallen to the floor. I immediately drop to my knees beside her, wincing at how my knees collided with uneven rocks on the floor. I try to shake her awake but to no avail, her eyes are closed and breathing laboured. 

"Hans! Look at me." Her head lolls from side to side. I slap my palm onto her face repeatedly and that manages to do the job. 

"I need to you reach back to the infirmary. You'll be fine once you get there." I struggle to focus past the sensation crawling up my body, trying to control and take over everything that it comes across. The serum isn't working the way I've been told it does. I guess this is what happens when you take something that wasn't exactly designed for you.

Hans smile at me as she lifts her hand to my neck. She places another small object on my neck and her hand retreats back to her. Something comes up along my face and my hair as I lift up my hand to it. Through a clear mask, I can see my hand in the black glove that I suddenly have. The same hand feels along my neck and head to feel a perfect mask covering my hair and everything inch of skin that was showing.

A scream ripples through me. I feel a palm pressing harshly against my mouth in an attempt to get me to quieten down. There's a voice I can hear in the background but it's garbled and warped. It sounds extremely far away. 

Power.

I can feel so much power.

My hands come to cradle my head but make contact with the helmet. They're not satisfied with the obstruction and repeatedly hit the helmet, hoping to break it and make contact with my skull. Something doesn't feel right about this. I should have never taken that serum.

My head emulates a heartbeat of its own as I unconsciously tune in with my surroundings. I can feel every particle, molecule and atom of every metal object with a radius of 800 metres.

What the fuck? How do I know that? 

My vision expands past my sight, tapping into my powers. I can map out everything comprising of metal around me for 800 metres. I can see doors being slammed open, knives being thrown and used with deadly intent and so much more. There's a gun being fired exactly 15 metres away from me. The first shell casing falls to the floor and I zone into it, morphing into liquid and shaping the object as I see fit.

My vision zooms out as I feel more and more of my control slipping to this foreign power within me. A sharp pain erupts from somewhere in my body. It doesn't come to me directly, but it's like something alerted me that someone is hurting me. In my vision I see a gun on the floor which I morph into separate knives and point them in front of me. As I zone in on the threat, a familiar voice becomes clearer, speaking words I've wanted to hear for so long.

"Earth.... believes and loves- in you." I can't make out the words entirely, but the words separately have a greater impact than whatever she was trying to say.

I tap back into 'my normal self' as my vision clears. In my haze I can make out a feeling of relief, love and determination within me. I realise then that I've always idolized Earth and strived to make her proud. My vision clears to see Hans smiling at me while bleeding much more profusely because of silver, metal spikes lodged all throughout her body.