Hybrid (BOOK 1)

Chapter 21: The Simulation and The Chair

Her eyes narrowed as she saw two men in black suits and wearing dark sunglasses approach her. She had a gut feeling that they were going to attack her. The uneasiness caused created the surge that she had become accustomed to and the color of her eyes changed to stormy blue. The two men however, walked passed her without even looking at her.

"This is crazy nothing is going..." Skyler could not finish her thought as one of the men kicked her in the back and she fell flat on her hands. Before she could react the other man kicked her in her stomach and that sent her rolling onto the road.

"Gees Melanie wasn't kidding when she said that things would feel very real," Skyler said to herself.

"Skyler you have exactly three minutes left," Melanie said.

"You only have three minutes left," Skyler mimicked, "these two guys will be a piece of cake." Skyler got up quickly and ran straight towards the two men and put herself right in the middle of them. She closed her eyes as she felt her surge get stronger. She turned to the man on her left and punched him in the face and he was sent flying on the other side of the road. She turned to the man on her right expecting him to feel afraid but to her surprise he wasn't. He didn't hold back and started attacking her with a series of punches and kicks. Skyler blocked all his moves with ease.

"Wait," she quickly thought to herself, "I have superpowers, why aren't I using them properly?" Skyler quickly scanned the road, close by there was an electric pole. She dodged a punch from the man and ran towards the pole. She grabbed a hold of it and closed her eyes for a split second and once she opened them her hands had turned into the same material as the pole. It only took seconds for her to rip off a piece of the pole.

She then turned towards the men but one of them had taken a hostage.

"One minute left Skyler... You need to act now!" Melanie said.

Skyler was at a loss, she knew that if she moved the hostage could get killed but if she didn't do anything she would get killed.

"Thirty seconds left common Skyler!" Melanie almost shouted. Without thinking Skyler ran towards the men with her weapon and jumped to attack them, but as she did one of the men assaulted the hostage and that caused Skyler to lose concentration. Before she knew it, the simulation was over and she had achieved nothing at all.

"That'll be all for now," General Williams said. A few minutes later everyone was in the training room with Skyler.

"I thought you said there would be more simulations," Skyler said to Melanie.

"This simulation was enough. You need more time to adapt to your own self before you can really use your powers efficiently" Melanie said as she tried to be polite.

"Do you know what this simulation tells me about you Skyler?" General Williams asked.

"That I suck at being a hero," Skyler replied slowly.

"No not at all. You have the right intentions but you do not know how to carry those intentions out. What I saw was a woman who doesn't understand her powers and has no clue what to do when on the field."

"Okay, so how can I..."

"This will be improved only if you understand yourself and all the powers you have as Agent Stone just said. She and Chris will help you understand your powers and well... Chelsea will oversee your fighting and adaptation skills..."

"Chelsea? But she hates my guts, she forever wants to send me to Isolation. I don't think she will want to..."

"Ortega I am the boss around here. What I say goes, no one, not even Chelsea will go against what I decide." Skyler bit her lip in indignation. It was bad enough that Melanie wasn't in good terms with her and now she had to deal with the self-righteous Chelsea.

"I think Skyler understands what needs to be done," Chris said.

"Yeah... Yeah I do..." Skyler said with a frustrated sigh.

"Excellent." With that General Williams left the training and all that was heard was the shutting of the door. A long awkward silence then filled the room. Finally Skyler cleared her throat.

"So what's next?" she asked. Without uttering a word Melanie made her way out of the training room and dismay was read all over Skyler's face.

"That's our cue to follow her," Chris told Skyler as he hung back to walk with her. Skyler shrugged and followed Chris, she had no other option.

"For the sake of everything that is important to you please please please do exactly what she tells you to do and ask a minimum of questions," Chris told Skyler.

"And what if I don't?"

"If you don't she will storm off and the training will be stopped and the general will get mad and you could really get sent to Isolation and..."

"Okay okay I get it," Skyler cut Chris off.

Melanie was waiting for Skyler and Chris in the lab with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Skyler sit in this chair," Melanie told her. Skyler looked at the chair she was told to sit on, it was a new addition to the lab. She glanced at Chris who made signs with his face telling her not to ask any questions.

"So are you gonna sit down or what?" Melanie asked impatiently.

Wordlessly Skyler made her way to the chair and sat down. She looked at Melanie with frustrated eyes, but Melanie did not make eye contact with her and Skyler bit her lip angrily. She listened as Melanie gave Chris instructions. Soon she felt Chris place something on her head and she tried to look up to see what it was.

"Relax Skyler, it's just a helmet," Chris told her reassuringly.

"What kinda..."

"We will tell you soon enough Skyler," Melanie interrupted, "right now we just need you to shut-up so that we can work!"

"Keep cool Skyler," she thought to herself, "Melanie has the right to be rude to you. You deserve it." Melanie and Chris continued their work for ten more minutes and those ten minutes felt like an eternity for Skyler. They finally stopped what they were doing around her and approached her.

"The helmet on your head will show us your brain activity," Melanie started off. "We know that your powers come when you get highly emotional..."

"So this helmet will basically show us what signals your brain sends to the rest of your body. It's important for us to know, because we will create a suit for you and the suit will also be linked to your brain activity," Chris continued.

"A suit?" Skyler asked in surprise, "you mean like a cape and a mask? Wait, you people want me to wear leotards?"

"This isn't the nineties Skyler," Chris replied with a chuckle.

"Yeah, use your brain, how would a leotard suit be linked to your brain activity?" Melanie said sarcastically. "Now we have wasted enough time. Chris let's get this test started. Strap her to the chair."

"Well excuse me for..."

"Sshhhhh," Melanie interrupted. "Questions and remarks later." Both Chris and Melanie could tell how indignant Skyler was feeling.

"I know its killing you that you can't answer her back," Chris whispered to Skyler when Melanie's back was turned, "but trust me its better this way."

"All you need to do is close your eyes and relax. The machine will do the rest," Melanie said. Skyler nodded. "Okay close your eyes and relax. Allow yourself to get lost in your thoughts." What Melanie and Chris did not tell Skyler was that they would inject her with a sedative that would actually take her into her mind and they would be able to understand Skyler's emotional triggers at a deeper level.

As Skyler closed her eyes she felt herself being transported into memories that she had kept locked up behind one of the doors in her brain, a door she never wanted to open again.