***Ari's Point Of View***
When I 'wake up' from the dream with Danny, my senses are on high alert.
I know the mattress that I'm sitting on is comfortable, but I don't feel it. I don't even feel the clothes I have on me or the tiles beneath my bare feet.
But what I do know is that I remember.
I honest to god remember everything that led to where I am right now. I don't know how it happened, and I don't care (I just hope I'm not dead. That would hinder the whole get-out-alive plan) the problem now is trying to figure out how to escape. If I'm going to keep that promise to Danny—and I damn well will—I have to start moving.
Ever since I woke up back here, I can't get that kiss out of my mind. I know it was in my dreams, but I can still feel my lips tingling and despite the situation, feel myself smiling goofily. Unfortunately, I can also feel the burning sensation in my lungs that's now dulled to a faint throb.
Damn pink happy juice.
I close my eyes, trying to remember what it is I saw for those precious short moments I was conscious.
A lab . . . lots of tubes and wiring . . . I was floating in something with a mask over my mouth and even though my vision was kind of blurry, I could see others in the same glass pods, but I couldn't see inside of them. I also saw a face, a woman, with blue eyes and dark hair that was loose around her shoulders. She was wearing one of those white lab coats and she looked . . . worried. I think she said something to me, but I couldn't hear her and then I woke up here. Only this time with all my memories.
Who was that woman? Did she want to help me?
I let out a silent sigh, holding my head in my hands. Even if I did leave here, what about the others? Despite everything, we've all become fairly close and I can't just leave them behind . . .
I'm pulled out of my thoughts by a shifting movement above me. I turn my head to see Simone's eyes staring back at me, upside down, her hair illuminated by the sliver of moonlight than shines through the window.
"Penny for your thoughts?" she whispers. I give her a weak grin as I pull my knees up to my chest and she meanders her way beside me.
"I remember, Simone . . ." I say lowly, careful not to wake the others.
". . . I'm not sure whether to envy you or call you a moron. Every time you got dragged off, it scares the ever-living hell out of us, Ari. Why?"
"Because there are people waiting for me. People I can't forget."
She gives me a look. "Boyfriend, huh?"
I smile, hiding my face with my knees. "It's complicated?"
"When is it not?" she laughs lightly. "Do . . . do you think we have people waiting for us too?" she asks, and even though I know she's trying to hide it, I can tell she's scared.
"I don't know Simone, I'm sorry."
She sighs. "No, it's fine. Your honesty is something I appreciate about you, Ari."
"Yeah, well, I wish I had some of your tact."
"Really? Sometimes I feel like I'm a little too nice . . . I wish I had some of your assertiveness."
"It's not as fun as you might think. I wish I was more mature like you . . ."
"Are you calling me old?"
"Oh shut up, that's not what I meant."
"You know," a deep voice interrupts our giggling and we look over to Ax's bed. "Some people would appreciate some peace and quiet when they're trying to sleep." He grunts.
"Says the one who snores like a broken-down pick-up truck," Connor mutters.
"You guys were awake?"
"We have been for a while. Damn newbie . . ." Ax says rubbing the back of his neck.
"What he means is, we were worried about you Ari," Connor says as Ax jumps down from his bunk to sit next to me on the floor.
"Whatever."
Connor joins him, leaning his head on Ax's shoulder as Tracey hobbles over next to Simone. He hands a note to me and even though I have to strain my eyes to see it (this kid had better handwriting than me!) in the lack of light I can see that he wrote: "We're glad you're safe." With a little cartoon drawing of us all. I smile, reaching over to ruffle his messy brown hair.
"Thanks, Tracey," he flashes me a tiny smile before we all sit in silence for a moment.
"It feels like something big is about to happen . . ." Connor says wrapping his arms around himself.
"You too, huh?" Simone asks.
"Bet it has to do something with Newbie." Ax sighs, nudging my leg with his elbow. "I don't know if anyone else experienced it, but whenever this idiot comes back from being taken away for the umpteenth time I see a bunch of people in a big white house . . . I look a lot like them."
"You remember your family?" Connor asked incredulously with an excited grin. "That's great!" I can tell Ax blushed a little at the closeness of their faces as looks away. "I only remember a woman . . . she's short with long black hair in a braid. I think she's my mom . . ." he sniffles a bit, rubbing his eyes. "It's weird how I don't remember her, but I really, really miss her."
Tracey tugs at Simone's sleeve, and she holds the piece of paper up so that we can all see it. It's a portrait of a man with a thick mustache. His bespectacled eyes are closed in a warm smile and crinkled at the corners. Beside him is a rather pretty woman with her hair tied over her shoulder, but something about her seemed wispy like she wasn't really there.
"Is that your dad? He looks like a really nice guy." She says wrapping him up in a half hug. "I only remember a woman with hair like mine and a stern-looking face. She's a little blurry, but I don't think she's my mother."
"Maybe she's your aunt?" I say as she shrugs.
"Maybe . . . I guess Ari's remembering is contagious."
"So then where are the spiders? I'm itching for a fight." Ax says cracking his knuckles.
"They're usually here by now . . ." I say keeping, an eye on the door. A chill goes down my spine then as I realize what the woman I saw was saying to me when I was conscious.
"'Hold your breath.'"
"What?"
"Everybody, focus really hard and take in the biggest breath you can," I say as the ground begins to shake. They all spring to their feet, holding on to our bunks to keep steady.
"O-okay!" Connor shouts as a flashing red light bleeds through our doors. "You guys better be okay after this!" he says taking in the biggest gulp of air he could.
The others follow suit as I nod and just like that with a blinding flash of red light, I wake up in the same liquid that I was in before.
I look around frantically, the mask I had on before detached from me. I bang on the glass, my movement slow and sluggish. My lungs begin to burn as I let out a gasp, closing my mouth again to keep what precious little air I had left. I lift my legs up, the movement sending a tingling sensation down my spine as I kick at the glass.
C'mon . . . break damn it! I plead and miraculously, a crack forms. That's all it needs before the pressure of the liquid begins to make the crack grow and I'm tossed out of it like a rag doll, broken glass and . . . whatever it is I'm covered in onto the cold floor.
I gasp, taking in gulps of air as I attempt to lift myself up from the floor. I fall a few times, my arms feeling like jelly but I eventually get myself to sit up. Asides from the stinging in my arms, I thankfully avoided any glass and take my first look around. I'm in a room by myself I notice, as I wipe my eyes clean and shiver.
I try to stand, but a piercing pain from behind my neck brings me back down.
"Ah!" I hiss, reaching a shaky hand to a thin wire that was embedded into the back of my neck. A whimper escapes my lips as I touch it—fuck that hurt!
"You might want me to do that . . ." I turn too quickly, making myself dizzy and I fall again, only to be caught by the person.
"Who—" I cough harshly, my throat feeling as if I swallowed sandpaper.
"My name is Willow, Willow Statlender. Here, drink some water." She says in a delicate voice, a bottle of water in her hands. I look at it before glaring at her. "Right, sorry. You have every reason not to trust me but please . . . I need your help." She tears the cap off the bottle before taking a swig, the lip of the bottle not touching her lips as she hands it to me. I know I shouldn't take it, but I grab it from her and down the entire thing. This all seems strangely familiar.
"Why are you helping me?" I rasp as she looks to the ground, ashamed.
"All of this, everything that this place is doing . . . I want to put a stop to it. Taking children away, experimenting on them like . . . like animals. I've seen so many of them die." she utters lowly, sobbing into her hands.
I sit there awkwardly, not really sure on how to comfort my 'captor'. She finishes shortly after, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief.
"I-I apologize," she says. "I guess you're looking for an explanation, right? This facility, you should know it well—at least the part you were familiar with. It's called Hetera-Helix officially, but you might know it by IVY."
The name clicks in my mind as I remember the visits with my mother, and taking her here when she was sick . . . the treatment she got here was top notch.
"Wait . . . so this place is a hospital? What the hell are you doing experimenting on people?!"
She sighs, wringing her hands together. "I assume you're aware of beings that possess a specific trait called the X-gene, yes?"
"Yeah . . . I see reports in it from J. Jonah Jameson when he isn't ranting about Spider-Man. What does that have to do with anything?"
"Everything, actually . . . you see, while the world views them as 'mutants' and monsters, the people here at IVY believe they are the next step in human evolution. That's the reason why they've been taking children–the age range that the gene develops is in puberty. The spiders that go out and collect them are programmed to target those only with the X-gene using a special analyzing injection that hones in on the targets. We've been monitoring kids here in the facility ranging from infancy to early adulthood—"
"You've experimented on babies?!" I say, not even bothering to hide the disgust in my voice.
"I'm not proud of what I've done . . . most of us don't even know the true lengths this place will go. I only scratched the surface, and I nearly gave up until I came across you."
My eyes narrow, my distrust of her growing by the second. "What's so special about me?"
"Originally, when we captured you, you showed no sign of having a trace of the gene and that's why the injection had such a negative effect on you. The other researchers wanted to . . . cancel your observation until something we never expected to happened, happened. Something . . . changed; we thought you didn't have the gene but you do. It's recessive, almost completely as if was being pushed back by something but before we could find out what, you started resisting. The treatment we put you all in was meant to mold you, make a clean slate and see if we could tweak at the gene's appearance but years of research had only gotten us so far."
"Wait, wait, wait!" I place a hand to my temple, feeling dizzy at the info dump. "I'm a mutant?! T-That' impossible!"
"We thought so too . . . but I've personally seen your files, Ari. Believe it or not."
I take in a deep breath in an effort to calm down but I can feel the bubble of panic beginning to erupt in my chest. "So you sick bastards kidnapped people—kids— off the street to turn us into some kind of soldiers?!" I exclaim, my hands shaking. "So now you want me to help you pay for your crimes? Think that by releasing me you'll make up for all the lives you ruined?!"
"P-please, calm down Ari—it's not just me! Some of us a forced to—"
"Like hell I give a shit about that! Do you have any idea of the horrible things that happen out there to mutants?! The things people say about them like they're some kind of disease?!" I feel a coldness wrap around me but I ignore it and pick up a shard of glass, not caring that it digs into my palm. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't just kill you right now . . ." I don't know where such a threat came from and I don't care. These people, these monsters have to pay.
The coldness in my voice makes her visibly shake, her eyes widening as she pushes herself back. "P-Please . . . I know what we did was wrong, I know that by just asking you for help is just adding salt to the wound but—!" she got enough nerve back to press her forehead against the wet floor in a bow, her hair getting damp due to the liquid from the tube that was still spilling out.
"I beg of you—do whatever you want to me just please help those children! I'll take it on ten-fold if I have to!" she cries. "Please, Ari, they have my little girl. They promised they could help her, but they just . . . took her . . . !" her voice shakes as she speaks her hands turning into fists.
I stare down at her, my anger slowly fading as she cries. I look down at the shard in my hand, the stinging sensation making me aware of what I attempted to do . . .
I throw the glass across the room, making her flinch and look up at me with curious but frightened eyes.
"After all this is over, you give yourself in to SHIELD. You tell them everything you know about IVY. You tell them of every baby, child, and teenager you guys took and if they have families, you bring them back." She vigorously nods her head, wiping her eyes as she let out a relieved laugh.
"Thank you . . . thank you!"
"Don't thank me yet; I still don't know what the hell you did to me, or what kind of mutant I am, but I better still be me . . . or else. Now get this needle out."
"R-right. It might hurt a little bit but please bear with it," She says, moving to sit behind me as her cool hands touched my exposed neck. Jeez, did they have to cut my hair? I feel a slight pinch as the needle is pulled out of me, my body instinctively tensing.
"Fuck! What the hell was that?!"
"It's best you didn't know . . . can you stand?" I wobble onto my feet, teetering a little like a child as I take a careful step forward.
"My legs feel like jello . . . how long was I in that thing?"
"A little over a month," she answers.
"A month?! No wonder I walk like a two-year-old!"
The dizziness passes after Willow takes the needle out of my neck (and I recover from the shock of being gone for over a month) and she gives me a fresh change of clothes since the ones I'm currently wearing are dripping wet. They're the same as my last pair, but newer by the looks of it. Willow then rolls in a gurney with a giant black bag on it.
I look from the bag to her with a flat look. "I'm not going in that."
"B-But it's the only way to sneak you out of here without drawing attention to yourself!"
"In a god-damned body bag?!"
"They won't check it, I promise. I can also take you to your friends—the ones you met in the simulation!"
Simulation? "So they're okay? Where are they?"
"You were the last one to wake up, they're already in the safest location in the building."
"And where would that be?" I ask, her lips forming a thin line before answering me.
"The morgue."
******
"I see . . . such a shame. Subject 4-214 was a promising specimen." I hear a muffled voice say as I glare at the direction of it. I am not a specimen! "Perhaps you could let me have a sample of her DNA? It could pay off for you rather well in the future . . ."
I resist the urge to punch through the bag, keeping my breathing even so I don't give myself away.
"Ah . . . I'm sorry Doctor Stret, I've got orders directly from Professor Dayal to dispose of 4-214's body immediately—you know how particular she is."
The old fart (Professor Stret) sighs deeply before responding. "Yes, yes. It's still such a waste . . . well, I'll leave you to it then."
"Thank you, good day Professor!" Willow replies as she begins to wheel me away again. I count the paces in my head and wait until twenty to speak up.
". . . That guy sounded like the biggest prick I have ever heard in my entire life." I say earning a snort from her.
"P-please don't speak so loudly, Ari." She whispers over her giggles. I smile smugly.
"He totally is, isn't he?"
"Shh—we're here!" I hear a sliding of a door, other voices murmuring over one another until we arrive. She exchanges a few words with someone and then the zipper to my bag is undone. I squint at the lights, closing my eyes as sit up.
"Ow . . . jeez, this gurney is uncomfortable." I say cracking my lower back.
"Ari!" a chorus of voices greet me as I'm nearly knocked off the gurney. I focus my vision to see, Simone and Connor! Next to them was Tracey, looking up at me with those big green eyes of his and Ax standing there next to him with a huge grin on his face.
"'Morning sleeping beauty!" the redhead says with a mock salute.
I stare wide-eyed at the group, blinking away the burning sensation in my eyes as I hug the two back. "I'm so glad you guys are okay!" I say, struggling since my legs were still trapped inside the body bag. That was when I notice other kids I don't recognize scattered around the room in their own groups.
"These are the other kids that resisted the drug," Simone explains as she and Connor let me go. "Turns out we weren't the only ones."
"We've been doing this for a long time now," another feminine voice says as a woman with dark skin steps up to me. Her hair is cut super short—almost shaven as her dark brown eyes look at me coolly. "It's nice to meet you officially, Miss Kateri. My name is Nakida Lee, and welcome."
"Professor Lee is the one who started this program," Willow pipes up. "She was the one who recruited me and the others!"
"I see . . . so you're the one who started this whole rescue mission, eh?" I say as she crosses her arms behind her back.
"I can tell you still don't trust us, and I can understand that, but you must know that we all have our reasons for wanting to shut down IVY. You are a very special girl, Ari."
"So I've heard," I mutter, shooting a look at Willow. "She didn't really explain, though."
"I asked her to let me tell you; tell you all as to why you are now back in the real world. You see, the tanks you all were placed in connected you to one of IVY's most innovative and brilliant machines they have come to develop—the Core. It was used to sync you all up in a sort of simulation they ran to keep you under control."
"A simulation?" Ax asks. "Why the hell for?"
"Please do not interrupt me Alexey," she says sharply. He visibly bristles at his full name—looks like someone dislikes their name just as much as I do. "As I was saying, with you all being connected, each of you had some kind of influence on each other. When Ari here arrived, I noticed a sort of anomaly in the system. It was slow at first, but the effect of the drug on you began to diminish, and more and more of you began to become 'aware'. This came in the form of memories the drug suppressed, like your friends and family.
"Usually this happens on its own as the drug's effect diminishes as you become accustomed to it and usually we up the administration over that period time but when we realized it was coming from you, Ari, they merely upped your dosage. It was almost to the point where it was lethal, but you survived, which I am thankful for and you all should be as well. Her resistance began to seep into the other simulations and that's why you were going to be neutralized along with you all."
"So . . . Ari saved us?" a girl with short brown hair says glancing over at me.
"In a way, she merely gave you a push in the right direction so to speak." Professor Lee answers with a nod of her head. "This is the first time since the beginning of this program that something like this has happened, frankly I'm surprised they wanted to get rid of you."
"Gee, thanks," I utter with a roll of my eyes. "So, what then? What happens now?"
"That's where it gets difficult. We started with this originally taking one or two of the children from the simulation to make sure we don't get caught, but with this sudden and rapid resistant the simulations' . . . we can finally move forward to take down IVY and those who support them."
"So you want soldiers, then," Connor comments as he shuffles a little on his feet.
"For the lack of a better word, yes. It won't just be for your freedom, but for the freedom of every single life that this institute has destroyed."
"It seems kind of unfair for us to help you guys ain't it?" Ax glares, a deep scowl set on his lips. "You expect us to go along with your little break-out plan just like that?"
Huh. Déjà vu.
"Do we really have much of a choice? If the other Professors and I are found out about our intentions, they would kill all of us without a second thought. Both of our choices are rather limited, wouldn't you agree?" Professor Lee shoots back. The silence that blankets the room is enough for her as she turns to me. "I believe I have something that belongs to you." She says as she reaches into her coat pocket. She tosses me my SHIELD issued watch, which surprises me but as I turn it on, the screen, unfortunately, stays black.
"It hasn't turned on since you've arrived, I imagined you would know what to do with it."
"Thanks. I already told Willow about my conditions for helping you, no negotiations." I say as I turn to my group, thankful to see their faces in the real world. "Out of one frying pan and into another, eh?"
"It all seems so surreal . . ." Simone says quietly, rubbing her arm. "Did . . . did they tell you about . . ."
"The X-gene? Yeah. I have no idea what my . . . 'thing' is though. Do you?"
She nods, her hair bouncing around her neck. "A lot of us have . . . the Docs say that it's caused by stress. Heh, as if it's some kind of sickness."
"It won't be easy . . . but I know we'll pull through. We made it this far, right?" I say as I slip my watch on.
"Yeah! Have you noticed anything different with you?"
I shake my head. "Not that I can see, at least. Then again, I'm a 'special case' apparently."
"Don't get cocky now, Newbie." Ax smirks. "Since you were the last one here, we've gotten a bit of a head start on our powers!"
Authors Notes:
Well, there you have it! It took a bit of research (and a ton of bombarding questions to my friend) to work with this plot. I originally intended for Ari to remain human, but those other plotlines would have been a bit more . . . simpler. Since this is my first time writing something like this, the challenge was a bit more appealing to me as well! ^^
I'm a bit worried that I might get a little carried away, but I'll do my best not to make anything too unbelievable! If any of you lovelies have any suggestions for Simone and the powers of the others (minus Ari) please feel free to let me know!
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter even though there wasn't a lot of fluff compared to the last chapter but I'll try to sneak in a few more moments between Danny and Ari in future chapters!
As always thank you guys so much for reading! See you in the next chapter!
Special thanks to Crazypup110, jpegs109, and turtlegurl_2 for voting and commenting! I'm sorry the updates take so long but I really appreciate your patience!
--MissHattress