(a/n refer back to chapter 11)
Ben and I step into the doctor's room, or a miniature version of one. I try to place the woman's identity. Immediately, I recognize her but I don't know how. Her previous jet black, pixie cut is tied back into a sleek bun. I only recognize her because of her long scar running down from her right eye to her lips.
With everything occurring, I totally forgot about her. This time she is wearing a long white lab coat as she clutches her clipboard. Ben leaves me shortly, leaving me and her in the same room.
"You're--" I begin to speak, but her eyes narrow dangerously. I shut up.
She doesn't say much except the small commands. "Roll up your sleeve."
She takes out a needle and looks for a vein to insert it in. I don't have a fear of needle but this needle is huge.
"What is that?" I look at the questionable liquid inside it. It's a clear liquid so it can be anything.
"None of your worries. You're not going to die from this." She says shortly before inserting in. The liquid momentarily burns me as it fills my veins.
"What is that!" I tear my hand away from her. At the point, the pain has subsided.
She doesn't give me an answer. Rather, she continues with her doctoral duties. She shines a light in my eye and looks in my mouth.
"Are you even a certified doctor? Should you even be administrating these stuff?" I ask her but she doesn't reply. She just seems to be going on with the notions and not really listening to me.
"Finger out." She gets some sort of device and places it to my index finger. There's a sharp prick of pain before she takes it away. I assume she took a blood sample, but that intensifies my curiosity.
"What do you need my blood for? What did you put in me? Who are you?" I ask her persistently. She gives me a blank look but she clenches her pen a little tighter so I can tell I'm getting to her.
"I won't shut up until you answer me," I threaten.
"You ask dangerous questions young lady. That mouth will get you killed." She says as she grips my arm tightly. Then, she begins to examine my body carefully, not caring to ask for permission. She pokes and prods me roughly as she writes things down on that clipboard of hers.
"Could you be gentler?" I grumble as I try to move away from her. She ignores me. For someone who saved me a while ago, she seems rather careless and indifferent to me. I am not expecting special treatment or anything but it does make me wonder why in hell did she save me to begin with?
And the plot thickens. I sigh as I try to wrap my head around everything.
"Stay still." She turns around to grab a small black case. Opening the lid, she takes out yet again another syringe.
I gulp.
"Fancy. What's in that one?" I grimace.
She gives me a look that I cannot decipher before inserting it into one of my veins. The liquid flows inside coolly. She looks at me expectantly as if I am supposed to have some sort of reaction.
"Why are you--" I don't quite finish my sentence as I feel a ball of fire burn in my stomach. It seems like it is growing and expanding larger every second. "What was that?" I grunt as I keel forward and fall onto the ground.My body curls into a fetal position as I clench my body tightly.
"What the fuck did you do to me?" I almost scream out in pain. It feels overwhelming. My skin feels like it is burning.
Then, as sudden as it came, the symptoms disappeared.
She exits the room, leaving me on the ground. I place myself against the wall and try to collect my breath. I find myself shaking just a little.
And in walks Ben.
"A nasty one, eh?" He smiles as he looks at my sweaty skin and breathless state.
"What did she do to me?"
"Ah, I can't tell you that." Ben shrugs. That infuriating shrug makes me want to punch him so badly.
"C'mon. Let's get to it. We need to go."
"Go where?"
I blink, not quite understanding his words.
"Back to training." He looks at me as if I'm dumb.
"But didn't we just come from there?"
"And?" He glances at me with the same expression as before. "You need to adapt faster, or else you're not going to survive long here." He smiles kindly to soften the bluntness.
"Adapt faster?" I raise my voice incredulously. "YOU are telling ME of all people...to adapt faster?" I start laughing, not caring if he thinks I'm some sort of lunatic.
After all I've been through, I don't even know if I am not some sort of crazy.
"Now you listen to me," I get real close to Ben and grip his t-shirt very tightly. "I've been through hell for the past months, and I don't need to put up with all your bullshit. I can see right through you, Mr. so called Nice Guy. You're as fake as everyone here. Either stop messing with me, or get the hell away from me." I snap. When I finish my rant, I find myself out of breath from anger and irritation. I shouldn't snap at him and unleash my anger at him, but this is a huge improvement from my usual "beat the crap out of everyone" anger.
His lips curl up a little at the edges. His little dimple creases just a bit. "You're sexy when you're frustrated."
Oh, he's gone and done it. He has fucking done it.
His eyes widen as he sees my anger, or maybe he sees the crazy in my eyes. I swing my arm to punch him as hard as he can. Knowing of his agility, I make sure to swing as hard and fast as possible but drop kick him where the sun don't shine in case he blocks it.
As he falls clutching between his legs, I leave with the biggest grin on my face. Suddenly, I feel a lot better, much better than I have felt in months. I practically skip down the hallway as I leave.
I'm so caught up in my little head that I get really lost really quickly. I find myself in an area where I have never been. Everything looks the same with their white walls and white everything. I don't really know where to go so I decide to just keep heading straight. As I approach another corridor, I glimpse someone walk down a four way intersection. Immediately, I hide behind one of the walls. I glimpse at the man who strolled down the corridor. He stops at the very end and places his hand on a digital screen next to the door. The panel glows green as it scans his hand. Then, he leans forward. I assume it scans his eye. He waits a little bit before the doors slide apart like an elevator.
Whatever is behind that door, it must be super important. I glance around to make sure there is nobody around. Then, I sprint as hard as I can to the doors before they can close. The doors are closing as I run towards it. Desperately, I chuck myself towards the closing doors and barely manage to squeeze through before it closes on me.
Landing very ungently against the floor, I dust myself off and hope nobody has spotted me. I look around and find myself in some type of lab room. There are random people hanging from a bunch of wires and mechanical equipment. I glance closely at the first person. She appears to be barely twelve years old. She appears to be alive and breathing, but she is in some type of sleep. She hangs limply like the rest of the people. There must be at least twenty people in this room. They all vary in age and sizes. I think the oldest one here is in his mid twenties, but I have never been a good age estimator.
For a second, I consider pulling the tubes out but I don't want her to die. She could be living off of those tubes. However, the tubes could also be pumping in foreign substances that are harming her. I look around and grow confused. There is nothing making sense about this entire place.
Think hard. There must be a connection.
I try to connect the puzzle pieces.
I think about the facts: Lucian Barsetti used to work with my Dad for some secret department within the CIA before an accident.
Fact: There was a falling out. The sector has thrived.
A good assumption: I am presently in the said sector. This is where Barsetti has been cultivating his evil secret base.
Fact: Obviously, he still recruits individuals like my dad and Barsetti used to do in the past. I have seen so many athletically inclined individuals here that I do not doubt they are not only physically talented, but also talented in other fields.
Fact: My dad is a good man with a good heart.
A good assumption: My father used the new recruits for good causes, but Barsetti, on the other hand, did not.
The question is: what are he using these individuals for?
I walk down the hall and cautiously approach the next pair of sliding doors. I enter discreetly and immediately hide to the side in case there is someone in the room. I don't know where the man I was following is.
Rather than hanging from the ceilings, they are about five of them encased inside huge test tubes. They seem to be floating inside some sort of liquid. All of them have on a helmet and tubes coiling around them. I see multiple scientists roaming around and scribbling things down on their clipboard. The man I was following is standing in front of one of the tubes too.
Fact: Barsetti is experimenting on these individuals.
Assumption: He's experimenting on everyone here.
That includes me. I gulp. I think back to all the times they inserted some foreign substance into my body. I glance down at my ankle and my body. I think I've been healing faster, but not as fast as those weirdos I almost died fighting when we were training.
"HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION IS BAD! IT'S UNETHICAL, I SAY!" I run into the middle of the scientists and scream at the top of my lungs maniacally.
I'm kidding.
That's just a crazy scene I imagine myself doing, but I could never do. One, I don't want to become one of those people floating in the tubes. Two, I don't want to be more experimented on than I need to be. Three, it would be pretty cool if I became some mutant like X Men or something but that's beside the point.
Then, a light bulb seems to turn on above my head.
These must be the missing people, or the people who are cut when they lose.
Then, the light bulb goes out.
Where do these experiments go? Are these the first trials and then the people like Ben get the safe, tested shit? Does Ben know about this? Does Amber know about this?
What happens to the experiments that go bad?
I shudder at the thought. They are experimenting on human beings, people who have families and friends. That's horrendous. It's unethical.
Lo and behold, I see the lady doctor/savior from my checkup roaming around there too. I crouch behind the machines and squeeze myself between these huge mechanical thingies. I try to get as close as possible to hear what they are all saying.
"No response. Subject 15 is another failure." A scientist or doctor or whatever he is says to his colleague. I barely catch what they say before they farther away to the next test tube a couple feet away.
"Inserting Subject 21 with Substance A104 in three...two...one," the scientist says in a monotone voice. There's a pause as everyone seems to wait to see what happens.
Then, a red flashing alarm rings as the person in the liquid convulses.
The scientists watch him struggle without doing anything for a minute. Subject 21 convulses violently and struggles. I almost gasp shockingly out load when the man grips the helmet tightly as if he can't breathe. Then, he pounds a fist against the glass of the test tube. A small crack forms.
"Subdue him." The same scientist orders. Immediately, a liquid of some sort is pumped into the tubes and the struggles of Subject 21 weakens.
Eventually, he stills.
I wonder if he is dead.
They seem to discuss rather intently about the results. I decide it's time to leave. I sneak out behind the machinery and wait until everyone has their head turned away from the door. I exit as quickly as I entered. This time not wasting time to examine everything. I don't really want to get caught.
I am back in the bland, but disturbingly too clean hallways. I don't know where I am going but I keep walking, hoping that I find my way back. If I am caught, then I at least want to be super far away from that lab. It was pure luck and maybe fate that I stumbled upon that lab.
I keep walking before I eventually run into a guard. And it hurt.
"Where do you think you are going?" He growls dangerously as he grips my bicep. He doesn't give me a chance to respond before half-dragging and half-walking me down a bunch of hallways. I get disorientated from all the different turns and doors he go through. They all look too similar.
Eventually, I am back at the training area. Everyone glares at me as I walk in. Their uninviting looks makes me wonder what I have done to deserve it.
The guard leaves me after he pushes me to the ground, which is highly unnecessary. Amber marches toward me as I dust myself off.
"If you do that again, then you will automatically be eliminated from the training arena. Don't risk it."
"Eliminated. What a strong word." I say dryly.
"You know what I mean."
"I don't even know what you are referring to. Do what again?" I question.
Her eyes flick to Ben.
"It was just a slight warm welcome." I roll my eyes.
"You just don't get it." She grits irritatingly. She huffs before turning on her heels. Her ponytail whips across my cheek painfully as she leaves.
I can never stop getting hurt around here.
Of course, that's when they call for sparring partners.
And of course, my sparring partner of the day is an ugly troll twice my size and weight. I sigh.
His dark eyes and evil little smirk shows how bloodthirsty he is. He is full of anticipation for blood and bruises and none of them are going to be for him.
"I must be the luckiest girl in the whole world." I mutter quietly with a sarcastic undertone.
His smirk only widens.
__________
A/N
College is stressful and hard.
Spring break was relaxing. I really needed the relaxation so I took some time before I uploaded this.
I plan to write more, but it's hard to make time. I'll have to figure out my schedule since I have school 8AM-8PM almost straight.
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Thank you for your patience!
Love,
Lystra