I woke up to an empty room.
The walls and the floors and the door were white. Everything was white. I was in a corner, shackles on both my wrists and ankles. There was one window, but it was too high up so the only thing I could see out of it was the blue sky.
I was still in the clothes they took me in, though now they were ripped in multiple places. I felt on my forehead, and my hand came back sticky and red. I could feel the deep cut stinging from my hair line to my eyebrow. There was dried blood that ran down my cheek like tears. Bruises were peaking out from the edges of the shackles. I assumed that the bruises wrapped all around my wrists and ankles like bracelets.
I tried to stand up but the chains were too short. I tugged on the chains, foolishly hoping that I could pull them out of the wall.
The door creaked open, causing my tugging to stop and my head to snap up. A bald man with a lab coat over a blue shirt with a tie and khaki pants entered, and shut the door behind him. As soon as he entered, I tried to shoot electricity at him, but nothing happened.
"Ah, your powers won't work when you have those shackles on. Invented them myself, they block any and all powers as long as they're touching you." He smiled proudly.
I glared at him.
"What do you want with me?" I asked him as coldly as I could.
"I'm Doctor Daniels." He said, completely ignoring me.
"I'll say it one more time, what do you want with me?" I spat at him.
"Me? I don't want anything to do with you. But my boss does," He smiled wickedly. "And my boss wants to get to your brother."
"And who would your boss be?" I asked him, keeping a hard edge in my voice.
"That's not for you to know." He waved me off, sticking his hands in his lab pockets.
"Then why are you here?"
"As I said before, I'm a doctor. Well, I used to be. They stripped me of my degree when they realized my, uh, fascination of human experiments."
I looked at him in horror.
"So you're going to experiment on me?" My voice was higher than normal.
He stepped forward, and took my face in his hand. I tried to yank away, but he had a firm grip.
"Yes," He said, moving my face side to side. "You'll make a wonderful test subject."
He let go of my face and I scrambled back into the corner.
"Wh-why are you doing this to me?" I was losing my nerve.
He sighed.
"We've been over this Grace, to get to your brother. If he finds his precious sister missing an arm, maybe a leg, or perhaps she'll be mute, or dead, who knows what that will do to him?"
It would absolutely destroy him. Something then clicked in my mind.
"Wait, you're counting on him finding me? Is this a trap?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
"Look who's a smart one," He grinned. "We aren't going to hurt him physically. At least not yet. But right now, it's all about his mentality."
Doctor Daniels tapped his temple. He glanced at his watch and sighed.
"Only about four more hours until we expect Brooke. I'll be back with the equipment." He smiled wickedly, and stepped out of the room.
My breathing increased as I grew more nervous. In four hours, Brooke would be here to save me. But I could be mutilated, disabled, dismembered, or worse. And Brooke would blame and never forgive himself.
I yanked on the chains holding me to the wall, but it was no use. They were probably made of titanium or something of that nature. I leaned against the wall, my body starting to shake.
This was it. I would never be a superhero, Brooke would never be the same again, everything would come crumbling down.
The only person who I could think of who could do this was Master Malum, Brooke's archenemy. Master Malum had telekinesis, but it normally back fired around Brooke because he could just deflect whatever Master Malum threw at him with his wind. He absolutely want Brooke dead, and the feeling was mutual with Brooke.
The door opened once more, and Doctor Daniels entered with a metal table that had straps hanging off the sides and a smaller table with all kinds of horrifying tools.
I backed up as far as I could, but it was no use. He scooped me up like a rag doll, and dropped me on the table. He put the straps on me first, which went across my forehead, chest, stomach, thighs, knees, and ankles. He undid the chains from the wall. I couldn't move, my hands were pressed to my sides.
"Now, where should we start." He laughed.
He took out a black marker and started drawing what I could only guess what incision lines.
"Get your hands off me you son of a bi-" I started to say, but injected something in my arm.
"There, now you won't be able to talk until I cut out your tongue." He informed me.
I tried to say something, but all the came out was a gurgling noise.
Doctor Daniels picked up a wicked looking tool that I couldn't name, and placed it on my ankle. He was about to move it, when an alarm went off. He frowned.
"Looks like your brother is here sooner than expected. No time for surgery." He clicked his tongue.
I felt a wave of relief wash over me.
"So instead, I'll inject you with this serum that will paralyze you for, oh, long enough."
I tried to move, but the straps were on tight. He picked up a pink looking needle, and injected it into my neck.
It was a weird sensation. My whole body went limp. I couldn't do anything but blink and breathe. He unstrapped me from the table, and ran out of the room, probably to hide.
I told myself to stand up, but I couldn't. All I could do was lie there on the table. But Brooke was here, Brooke would save me.
"Where is she? Where is Grace?" I heard Brooke shout.
I didn't hear a reply, but there was a loud scream silenced by a thud. And while the ceiling was all I could see, I could hear a loud gust of wind and my door slamming open.
"Grace!" I heard him say, and his face came into my view.
"Grace, Grace are you okay?" He asked me.
Yes, I wanted to say, yes I'm okay and I'm alive and I'm mostly unharmed.
But I couldn't do anything.
"Grace?" He asked, worry growing on his face.
He put his ear on my chest.
"Your alive," He breathed. "But why won't you move?"
I blinked. If only I knew morse code, I could blink him my thoughts.
"C'mon, lets get you home." He whispered, picking me up.
He ran towards the window, and jumped out of it, the glass shattering around us. My head was tucked into his chest as we hovered in air for a moment. Brooke couldn't fly exactly. He could control the wind to support him and carry him. It looked like flying, but it wasn't.
He took off in the direction of our house. I couldn't see anything, my only view of his chest. I closed my eyes, and the wind whistled in my ears. It was relieving to be back with Brooke, and I fell asleep.
•••
When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that I could wiggle my toes. The serum must have worn off. There was something in my hand. I looked over, to see Brooke holding it.
I was in my room, laying on my bed. Brooke had pulled up my desk chair next it and had fallen asleep. His head was lolled to the side, his mouth slightly open. He had changed out of his suit, and I noticed I was in pajama shorts and a sleep shirt now.
When I looked at my hand that was intertwined with Brooke's, I saw that I was right about the cuffs leaving bracelet like bruises. They were ugly and deep. I cringed and looked away.
When I sat up against my headboard, my hand jerked out of Brooke's. His head snapped up, and he looked around the room. His eyes landed on me, awake and well, and he visibly relaxed.
"Thank goodness you're alright Grace." He breathed and wrapped me in a hug.
"Me too." I said, setting my chin on his shoulder.
"I was so worried. You were breathing but you wouldn't move or talk and then you passed out." He rambled on.
"They injected this serum in me that wouldn't let me talk or move." I told him, untangling myself from the hug.
"They did what?" He asked, his face contorting into one a fury.
"They also were going to experiment on me." I muttered, looking at my hands in my lap.
Tears filled my eyes. How scared out of my mind and nervous I was finally caught up to me. A tear escaped my eyes, and I quickly wiped it away.
Strong. I had to be strong, for Brooke.
"Grace?"
"I'm fine, perfectly fine." I protested, hurriedly blinking away my tears.
"Are you sure?" He questioned.
I nodded.
"Okay Grace. Just remember you're okay now. Your home."
Home. Home, they knew where home was.
"Brooke, we have to go, they know where we live. We have to go." I said frantically, scrambling to get up.
Brooke placed his hand on my chest, stopping me.
"It's okay, I used mom and dad's old memory wipe on everyone there. They don't even know you exist anymore." He explained.
"But what about the boss? He would still know who I am and where I live." I pointed out.
"Actually, he was there. It was the b-list villain Venom I had put in jail and he broke out. I wiped his memory too. You're completely safe Grace."
So I was wrong, it wasn't Malum. It grew quiet as Brooke and I got lost in thought.
"Brooke, how long was I gone?" I asked him, breaking the silence.
"About two days." He said.
"So it's Wednesday?"
He nodded.
"I can still make school tomorrow right?" I wondered out loud.
"I guess you can, but only if you want to." He said, almost hesitantly.
"I want to. I have some things to take care of." I told him.
"Okay," He nodded. "Get some rest, I'll awake you when it's time for dinner."
I nodded and snuggled closer into my blankets, closing my eyes.
"Thanks for saving me." I told Brooke as he placed a kiss on my forehead.
He said something before I fell asleep, and I almost didn't catch it. But I did.
"Always."