Artificial Willpower

Codes

Yancy had no one on the outside. That's probably why they chose him. In his ten years in prison he never got a single visitor, package, letter or call. Not that he could or did blame them.

He quickly learned to adapt to prison life after he had arrived, and to be honest he never minded prison itself too much. His guilt about what he had done on the other hand, was a different story. It ate him alive almost constantly. He still had nightmares, and could feel the blood on his hands even after he woke up.

He never intended on escaping. He had everything he needed in prison. He knew he didn't deserve to be out there.

For ten long years, he was fairly satisfied. He would take back what he had done, if he could, but he didn't hate prison. It was dull and boring, but he told himself he preferred it over the hustle of the real world.

Shortly after his ten year anniversary there, he started hearing whispers about a war brewing. A Third World War. Yancy brushed it off. Even if it was real, there was no one out there he cared about who could get hurt. And it's not like anything in the prison would change. Nothing ever did.

It was all so sudden.

One night, Yancy lay down in his bunk. His last cellmates sentence had recently ended, so he had the cell to himself. He was right on the edge of sleep, blissfully oblivious.

He heard the metal of his cell door creak as it was opened. He sat up and saw two guards. They looked almost solem...

Yancy grew nervous with the serious feeling in the air. He always behaved, and never caused trouble. Why would they need him?

One guard spoke up " Daniel Jones, we need you to follow us"

Yancy cringed, hearing his birth name. He got up, his heart pounding in his ears. He knew he hadn't done anything wrong recently. He tried to tell himself he was jumping to conclusions. That he was fine, but his gut told him otherwise.

He came over, trying not to show his fear. He had learned quickly that fear did nothing.

Yancy spoke, in his thick Brooklyn accent " Can I ask what's goin on...? I don't think I did nothin wrong..."

He saw one of the guards get out a set of handcuffs. That's when he knew he wasn't jumping to conclusions. Something was truly wrong. He had done nothing to warrant any sort of forceful transfer.

It was stupid, he knew. There was no way it would work, but he felt like a cornered animal. He wasn't thinking straight.

He grabbed the guard with the cuffs by the front of his shirt and swung him full force into the wall. He didn't stop to look back, or assess the damage.

He heard other guard speak into a handheld transceiver " Code green, I repeat, we have a code green"

Yancy cursed as he ran through the hall as fast as he could. He knew how to escape. He had known how since a year after he got here, but with all the guards aware of this would make escape near impossible.

He sprinted to the door he had found the code for, skidding about corners, and panting softly. He didn't understand what was going on. He hadn't caused any trouble. He felt his eyes grow hot but he pushed back the tears. Survive now, cry later.

As he rounded another corner, he ran directly into a group of guards. A few moved to get him, so Yancy ducked, and swiped his leg so one fell into another.

He started to run again, until he felt a sharp pain in his calf. He fell to the ground, and only had enough time to realize it was a tranquilizer before the world around him faded and went completely black.

He woke up with no knowledge about how long he was out. He could hear voices, and decided to try to observe before he did anything. He felt cold metal beneath him as he tried to assess the situation.

He heard a few unfamiliar voices mixed with the guards' voices.

" Are you sure about this? With... enhancements, he might become even more dangerous..." he heard a guard say.

He intentionally twitched, to test his mobility. He found there were straps around his wrists, and ankles.

He heard an unfamiliar voice " he is one of the only options we have. No one will notice he's gone. And even if they did, he killed his own parents. We won't have nearly as much of an uproar as we would."

His breath caught in his throat. Nothing about that sentence was comforting to him. Whatever they were doing, they clearly didn't want the public to know. That itself was worrisome.

But despite the obvious immediate danger he was in, he couldn't help but feel most cut by the mention of his crime. Whatever they were doing, him being a monster was the justification. It didn't matter how much he regretted it. The situation didn't matter. That's not what the public would be told. That's not what the public was told when his face was all over the news.

All they knew was that he was a murder. All the family he had left knew was that he killed his own parents. No one had bothered to get his side of the story. None of his friends cared to reach out.

No one would notice. The truth in this statement terrified him. They could do whatever they wanted and no one would ever know.

" but think about it." Another voice said anxiously. " you're giving a murder some never seen before abilities."

It felt like a punch in the gut. They were clearly planning something awful. But they didn't seem to hesitate at the idea of hurting him. They only hesitated for their own well being.

And this 'ability' talk made him uneasy. Like every other boy, as a kid he fantasized about being a super hero, but this seemed much different.

The first unfamiliar voice spoke again " we're out of options. The public would literally riot, if these experiments were done with civilians and even most criminals. And this is imperative to the win for our country. We have to get the technique down before we start using it"

He grew more anxious and fearful. His body involuntarily trembled as he tried to understand and calm down. His mind was either going so fast he couldn't process a thing, or he wasn't thinking at all.

He heard the talking stop.

" He's awake" said the unfamiliar voice.

Authors note: I made this sketch and a whole backstory and then this happened. I have a lot planned for this one so stay tuned!!