Thomas had lost track of time. He couldn't even remember when the last time he had been allowed to watch the sunlight was. The soldiers had marched him straight into the building, which later turned out to be an evolved testing-- oh excuse me-- holding facility. At first Thomas had hope his parents would come or that it wouldn't be that bad. He was just a kid, right? He was only twelve years old and it had been an accident. He hadn't meant to hurt anyone. So they'd go easy on him...right?
Wrong.
As evolved your were nothing. You were a freak. A monster. A test subject. They had snapped on that awful collar, who knew how many months ago with that incident in the bowling alley, a lifetime ago, and hadn't taken it off since. And it HURT. It had been alright at first, albeit incredibly uncomfortable, but the more they made him use his powers, the more that thing hurt when they turned it on again. By now, Thomas had reached a level of power for the collar's pain and pressure to become nearly unbearable. It had him angry and afraid, but he had quickly learned that fear got you nowhere. Neither did anger, but at least the anger gave you strength to go on. No false hope, no hope on rescue or humanity. Just the anger, to keep on going, to be free some day and show them.
Yeah, Thomas had learned quite quickly that there was no such thing as hope. There was just pain, obediance and power. And he wasn't going to give up. He was going to get through this and live and get out of here. And once he did, he was going to--he was going to-- well, he didn't know what, yet. But he would destroy this entire stupid testing facility. How often he heard the cries and screams of others just like him. Heard them often, but never saw them. He knew there was a girl on the same floor as him. She'd scream an awful, awful lot. And those were the times he got scared and just wished he could have gone home and not be a freak. Only those times. Deep in the night, when there wasn't anyone that would watch or punish him and he cried.
But by morning he would be strong again, try to resist, taunted his captors. They'd punish him; hurt him; kick him. They tried everything to break him, but they wouldn't succeed. Thomas would make sure of that because he was angry. That wasn't something they could take away from him.
The only thing that could make him obey, was the promise of being able to release his powers, to turn off that awful collar. He didn't care they had him kill other people, more testsubjects, didn't care he had to see how long they would last, the best ways to kill a man, the way organs splattered over the ground when he punctured this part or that part, neither did he care about the way a blown apart head looked. He didn't care he had to destroy things, didn't care they wanted him to do everything they wanted. Didn't care because of that blessed, blessed relief. He just tried to shut off his mind for all of those horrors. Didn't even register another person anymore. It was just a target. A dummy. Yeah... even though they spoke and cried...it didn't matter. He probably looked like a cold, emotionless monster to them, but Thomas didn't even realise they were actual human beings anymore. And that was probably the only reason he hadn't gone insane because of it yet.
Yeah, those type of people were also here. People just like him, but they couldn't handle it anymore. They would announce it when it happened because everyone could expect extra punishment then. And an extra training session for Thomas.
Thomas stared darkly at the stark white walls of his room. They were watching him. All the time. So he had to remain emotionless as possible. If you cried, they'd know and they'd laugh and make fun and hurt you more. They still tried that, of course, but they hardly ever succeeded, because they didn't really know him. They thought he was still missing his parents. He nearly snorted, as if he would ever care for those people again, he thought bitterly. They had always exclaimed he had been so perfect and how much they loved him. Well... this just showed how true that was. How much parents lied.
On yet another day they came for him again. Thomas had been dragged to his room the previous evening, absolutely exhausted from the training session and had just collapsed onto the floor. Somewhere in the middle of the night he had had the sense to drag himself to the thing with thin sheets they referred to as his bed and that's where he was now. He couldn't have slept more than a few hours at most, but they were already dragging him out, tieing up his arms, making sure he couldn't move. As if. Groggily he stared at everyone around him. Things were slowly turning and spinning and the more he watched, the worse it became and the worse he felt.
Oh. Doctor Black was saying something. Something about... Thomas squinted his eyes. He tried but, whatever it was he said, just seemed to be a dull buzz to his ears. And oooh, the spinning. He was just so tired.
Someone hit him hard in his face, the force of the blow knocking him on the floor. Thomas blinked, his head having cleared now and he glared up at Doctor Black again.
"Don't give me that look, you freak." Doctor Black spoke softly, pleasantly, even though his words weren't so friendly.
Thomas received a kick in the ribs. Tears of pain sprung into his eyes, but he didn't make a sound, continued to glare.
Doctor Black shook his head. "What did I tell you?" He was obviously expecting an answer from Thomas and Thomas knew exactly which answer it was.
"I am a mutated freak of nature. I am nothing. I should not exist. My very existence is a blemish on the gift of human life. I would be better of dead. My eyes do not deserve to behold the glory and power of the homo sapiens. Therefore I shall treat my superiors with utmost respect and shall not provoke or hurt them in anyway lest I infect or disgrace them in any way. I deserve to die but if I show proper respect, I might have some use." Thomas recited dully. He then averted his eyes, pushing away his anger. It wasn't hard. Every time he had to say this, another piece of him died, making him feel the hoplessness all over again, because it was true. He was a freak.
Doctor Black smiled, satisfied. "Good. Now that you finally deem me worth of attention," he had to pause because the guards were snickering at that. One of them nudged Thomas in his ribs, a bit harder than was necessary, sending a jolt of pain through Thomas.
Thomas looked up at Doctor Black again, this time pain and fear in his eyes. The anger had dulled into near invisibility.
"The government wishes to know their money is well spent and they've invited several prominent important political figures to come and have a look at this facility and the subjects within. You will be one of those on display. I expect your very best behaviour and no aggressiveness to either of our guests." Or else. The threat, even though unspoken, was clear. Thomas knew exactly what the 'or else' was. Or else they wouldn't allow him his release and the pain of the collar would build and build until it became unbearable and he couldn't keep silent anymore and he would beg for them to take it off. And then they'd wait three more days before doing so.
Yes. Lets just say Thomas learned this the hard way and never once made sure to repeat that behaviour again.
"Yes, sir," Thomas spoke softly, averting his eyes.
"They will be here in an hour," Doctor Black spoke coolly. "Get the boy dressed, washed and taken care of," he ordered. "And you," he spoke to the guard that had struck Thomas. "Report to Captain Markus."
The guard had paled. "Sir?" he asked.
"You struck the boy and left a bruise. We will have important guests coming over and we do not need any extra attention," Doctor Black spoke coldly. "Dismissed."
The guard saluted, looking quite miserable, and fled the room.
Thomas was taken away.
x x x x x x
It was again an indeterminable amount of time later that they dragged him to sit somewhere in a well lit room. On a chair. That was weird. He looked, slightly dazed, around the room. It wasn't anything special by any means, but he was sitting on a chair, there was a table standing in front of him, and another chair on the other side of the table. There was a large glass panel in the wall, obviously there to observe whatever it was he did, Thomas thought resentfully. His arms were still bound and the collar was throbbing painfully around his neck. He'd behave and get this over with so they'd at least turn it off tonight.
The thought that he could use this ocassion as a way to get out of here didn't even occur to him.
x x x x
Another undeterminable amount of time later, the door burst open and several guards trooped in, followed by Doctor Violet. "Well now, Thomas. It appears one of our visitors wishes to have a private meeting with you," she told him coldly. Thomas shivered. Doctor Violet always scared him. "You will not tell him anything and you will not be rude to him. This is a very important man and if he has any complaints, you will know the consequences."
Thomas nodded vigourously. "Yes, doctor Violet!" he quickly answered. He had NO desire whatsoever to cause trouble!
Two of the guards grabbed his still bound arms and dragged him through the hallways into a different room. This one was a LOT more different. A lot more warmly colored and the chairs were even SOFT. Thomas stared, not used to that. The guards dragged him to sit into a chair and then stood behind him, guns pointed at him. One wrong move and they'd shoot him.
Outside, doctor Black was trying to talk Sir Aquifer out of meeting with the boy, detailing how deranged and dangerous he was and that it was very much ill advised to do this, the boy was aggressive, would attack without a doubt and oh would he please not do this. Upon realising Lesley wouldn't be convinced, he handed the man a stungun with the strict instructions that, if the boy would make a threatening move before his soldiers could shoot him, he could use it. The boy would suffer no ill after-effects.
He watched, eyes narrowed when Sir Aquifer entered the room.
