[Book 4 Preamble] Numbered Inmates: Part 1
Cell-mates
The silent stillness of the cell was abruptly interrupted as the chamber door whooshed open. With a thud, a techno-armored woman was thrown into it. She landed with a metallic thump and a slight groan. The woman's skin was completely chalk which almost glowed, save the scorched charcoal around the even darker orbs of her eyes."It could be much worse, you know," came the voice of a small silhouette beside her two henchmen. "After all, you owe me every life you've returned to. You let that fire-bookah blast you back to the mists again! But, not to worry, what I've given you this time will ensure victory."
"What you've given her?" came a nasally voice behind the short figure.
"Yes my love; what we've given you.."
A loud audible sigh could be heard from the nasally man.
The woman cleared her throat. "What Lennk has provided me with: his work with the previous numbers' powers, and my unsurpassed expertise of necro-tech… Well, let me simply say that if the offer's not taken, you, my ill-conceived Sixteen Omega will have what you need to simply take what I require…"
"Kievaa!" Lennk reprimanded.
"Yes, yes… what we require," Kievaa begrudgingly corrected herself. "Additional trials will be underway shortly. But, for now regain your energy. (Can't have you burning out so quickly; I don't really feel like bringing you back!)"
Sixteen grumbled, wearily sitting up, but said nothing. After a moment Kievaa shrugged and the doors slid shut, locking with a loud bang. Sixteen brushed her hair back, attempting to ascertain where she was. Without her visor, the woman was almost completely blind. The cell, which was bathed in bright fluorescent-like lights, appeared completely red to her, with only slight variations in the color where contrasting shadows were cast. But as she looked around, one object seemed to be moving slightly, perhaps breathing.
It seemed Sixteen Omega was not alone in her captivity.
Every muscle in Six's body tensed with rage as she watched the door to her cell open hissed open. The sight and sound of Kievaa made Six want to raise her hands and immolate the asura, her henchmen, and the entire airship they were in.
Only she couldn't. Outside the cell, she was under Lennk's control. Every action wasn't hers, she was no more than a puppet thanks to the device implanted in her neck. Her thoughts and memories however remained hers. A sick joke by Lennk no doubt, another example of his cruelty, punishment for her time away from him and the rest of the Twelve.
She watched as another woman was tossed into the cell with her, one she recognized from the night Paige and her forces stormed Lennk's old lab, her old home. The night Six nearly killed Harid.
This was odd. Up until now, Six had been held in solitude, alone only with her thoughts and memories. Occasionally other members of the Twelve would stop by, Nine the most often, to glare at her through the small window on the cell door.
Six sat up on her bunk, arms wrapped around her legs, chin resting on her knees.
"I think you found the wrong cell..."
Sixteen peered into the red miasma, the only vision her obsidian eyes allowed her to see. She immediately honed in on the voice, analyzing the room's size from the voice which bounced off its walls, as well as the distance between her and her new opponent. Kievaa and Lennk had put the woman through a battery of tests since she'd re-awoken; this was no doubt one of those tests: they had stripped her of her visor and weapons and undoubtedly wanted to test her physical prowess.
At once the woman stood, fists clenched and brow furrowed. "I am where they put me; where they command me to go. Wrong cell? No. This is my cell to rest in, but they wish me to rid the current occupant." The words were stated matter-of-factly, no malice within; Sixteen simply had a job to do.
Both fists fizzled as an otherworldly mist formed around them. The woman's face was of desperation, contrasting the aggressiveness of the action. She took a step forward, ready to close the distance and strike her opponent, when suddenly, the magic that had been forming dissipated.
.
She stopped, held her hand up closely to her face, staring at it intently. While her vision was nearly gone, her powers could always be seen as black smoke in the redness. Now, however, there was nothing. Whether the room suppressed it, or the suit, Sixteen's powers were gone. She could have screamed, groaned, yelled… yet, as so many times before, she knew the effort would be futile: No amount of complaining would yield results. Kievaa was her master, and she was her subject… even if she didn't want to be.
Sixteen dropped her hand, again looking in the other woman's direction, trying to make out details. After a few minutes of silence, she finally sighed. The fog of red completely encompassed everything, and while she wasn't completely helpless without the visor, her poor eyesight was a challenge without it. If her master had taken away both it and her power, she most assuredly didn't mean for a physical test. It wouldn't suit her purpose since Kievaa only seemed interested in Sixteen's newfound power and the suit's ability to control her subject.
"Who are you?" she finally said, concluding her thoughts.
Six watched her new cellmate as she struggled to use her abilities, and for a fraction of a second she almost felt sorry for her. She was watching her own struggle in another.
She leaned back against the wall and stretched her legs out on her bunk, her gaze never leaving the woman.
"And I thought I was messed up. Looks like Lennk's new friend has been busy..." she said calmly. "Don't bother trying to use your magics, or whatever it is you do in here, it won't work. Their sick joke on us I suppose. Smart when you think about it...because if I could, I'd bring this whole airship and everyone inside, myself included, to the ground in a flaming heap."
Six sat up and swung her legs out over the edge of the bunk. She was dressed only in a one piece bodysuit, arms and legs exposed. It was obvious she was cold from the goosebumps on her skin, a sensation she had never really known before Lennk stopped her from accessing her abilities in this room.
"As for who I am?" she asked, her head tilted. "A monster just like you."
"We're all monsters here..."
[To be Continued...]
