“I definitely want to. I just want to be normal.”
Robert felt a sadness for her when he heard those words. Normal? Something told him that any hope of this woman ever being what she would consider normal was a distant and remote possibility. He could see Greg felt it too. “We’ll do whatever we can for you,” he said. Robert knew his brother and he was willing to say whatever he had to say to get her to go with him. He wanted into her DNA.
“Great,” she said. “Let’s go.”
***
Greg fumbled with the keys and opened the door excitedly to the warehouse entrance. “We rented this a while ago because we were gonna store equipment here until we could get our own lab going. That’s what Michael and I do. We’re research biologists. We didn’t expect to get things up and running this fast though. We’re pretty excited.”
Chelle could feel his enthusiasm and wasn’t sure if she liked it or not. On the one hand if they could help her that would be a positive. But on the other, she didn’t know Robert’s brothers. In fact, she really didn’t know Robert that well.
As the door opened they were greeted by the glow of fluorescents and the steady gentle hum of what sounded like multiple appliances. Robert and Chelle both stood with their mouths gaping open, not prepared for what they saw. “Greg, there has to be hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment here.”
“Try closer to a million,” Michael said, joining them.
Robert was stunned. “How the hell did you manage this?”
“We had a few favors coming. We’ve been doing research for a pharmaceutical company on the side. It hasn’t exactly been above board if you know what I’m saying. They are lending us this, in part, so that we don’t spill the beans on them.”
“What would you be spilling the beans about? What have you been doing?”
Greg came up behind Robert and clasped his hand on his shoulder. “Well now if we told you that we wouldn’t be keeping our mouth shut would we? You’ll need to change.” He handed an outfit to Chelle. A pair of black leggings and spandex racing back top with only one thin strip of fabric down the middle. She looked at the shirt, turning it over in her hands as both Greg and Michael walked away to fiddle with various pieces of complicated looking equipment.
This shirt reminded her a little too much of the uniform she’d worn just a few days prior. “Don’t worry,” Robert said. She met his eyes and he was looking at her with as much reassurance as he could muster. “It’ll be fine.”
“You think so?”
“Sure. My brothers are a bit spazzy but their intentions are good, I’m sure of it.”
“Got nothing to lose I guess,” she said, biting her lip.
His eyes brightened. “Hey. You’re not wearing any lipstick. I’ve never seen you without it.”
Suddenly she felt naked. The scar on her bottom lip began to pulse and she was sure it grew, showing itself. “Oh,” she said covering her mouth involuntarily. “I guess I was in a hurry.”
“There’s a change room right in there,” Michael said as he made his way back over to them. “We should get started.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Robert stood behind the glass and watched with Greg as Michael got Chelle situated on some kind of platform. After about twenty minutes she was hooked up from her head to her feet with wires and god knows what else. “What is all this Greg? What are you going to do?”
“We’re gonna look inside her body.” He gestured to her that she should make a complete turn. She did. “Her fabulous, fabulous body.”
Robert gritted his teeth. “Watch yourself. I’m still your brother. I’ll still beat the shit out of you.”
Greg’s eyes widened as if reliving a childhood memory. Probably the time he had taken Robert’s Batman figure. Robert had chased him around the block until he caught him, then beat the snot out of the thieving little bastard. He never did it again. “Duly noted,” he said.
Michael entered the room and shut the door, effectively caging them in. “We’re ready to begin.” He pressed a button and spoke into a microphone. “Chelle, are you ready?”
She nodded. “She’s scared to death you guys, go easy.”
“Relax, man. We’ll keep her all in one piece.” Greg flipped a switch and suddenly monitors were glowing, spitting out information and lighting up with pictures of the skeleton, the nervous system, the brain. “All normal as far as vitals go. Nothing out of the ordinary there.”
Michael was looking at a different set of pictures. “Organs all look normal. Heart, lungs, kidneys. Everything functional.” He checked another screen. “Bone density is not great. Looks like she has advanced osteoporosis.”
Robert didn’t know exactly what that was but it didn’t sound good. He bent toward the picture Michael was looking at. “What does that mean?”
“Means her bones are full of holes. Someone with a case this bad is usually all hunched over, or in a wheelchair.”
“So why isn’t she?”
“That’s what we intend to find out. Chelle,” Michael said pressing the button once again. “Can you, um, you know.”
The look on her face told Robert she knew what they were asking. For some reason Michael was not keen on saying it out loud. “I can try. I’ve never wanted to make them appear before so I don’t know if it will work,” she said.
“Ok. Try and see what happens.”
Robert watched. Holding his breath as Chelle, with every bit of concentration and determination she had, tried to make the wings emerge. After attempting it for a good five minutes it was apparent it just wasn’t happening. “Sorry,” she said. The look on her face said she felt like a failure. All three brothers looked at each other with concern and disappointment. “I have to be angry, or threatened in some way.”
Michael took his hand off the button. “Threatened in some way,” he said under his breath. “Greg, send a small electrical current and see what happens.”
Greg’s eyes lit up. He reached for a button but Robert got to his hand first, stopping him. “What are you going to do?”
“Relax, Robert. I’m just gonna give her a little shock. Not even as much as you’d get from static electricity.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
Michael spoke. “Robert, if we don’t we might not be able to help her. She wants this as much as we do.”
He had to admit Michael was right. Chelle was desperate for any kind of answer. Who was he to interfere? “Alright, but, don’t hurt her.”
“Robert, she’ll be just fine. Like Greg said, it’s no bigger than a shock she’d get from static.”
He nodded and removed his hand from over top of Greg’s. Greg hit a series of buttons and the wires lit up, the current travelling through them until it reached its destination. There was a small popping noise and Chelle jumped. “Ow! What the hell was that?”
Chelle waited for an answer but none came. The two scientists who had shocked her were too busy gawking at the screen in wonder as the pictures seemed to come alive. “Remarkable,” Michael said.
“Holy shit balls,” Greg followed up. “Look at that.”
“What? What’s happening?”
“Her skeleton just filled with metal. All those holes, that ‘osteoporosis’ it looks like it’s just hollowed out space for whatever this is. She’s being flooded with some kind of liquid.”
After a few moments the process seemed to slow down. “Greg,” Michael said. “Do it again. Little harder this time.”
He reached for the button, jolting her again. “Shit!” she screamed. “What’s going on?”
Robert watched as the screens grew brighter, more of the metal filling her system. “She’s turning into a steel cage right before our eyes,” Greg said.
Neither one of them noticed what Robert did. Chelle was growing impatient, he could tell by her stance. “Would somebody answer me, please? You guys are starting to piss me off.”
“Uh guys…”
Robert’s words went unnoticed by Greg who was too busy squinting at a monitor. “Look, I think I see them. Flattened down right against her spine.”
Michael was transfixed. “They’re wired into all her organs. Look how far in they go. It’s like she’s some kind of…”
“Some kind of what?” Robert said, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.
“Like she’s some kind of fucking robot,” Greg finally answered.
“One more time Greg,” Michael said. “Dial it up. Let’s see if we can draw them out.”
“No, I don’t like this.” Robert reached out to stop Greg’s hand from hitting the button once again, but he was just a fraction of a second too late.
Another current hit Chelle, this one larger and brighter than the others. She let out a cry of pain but unlike the other times, could not formulate a response to it. Something was happening, and Robert didn’t need to be a scientist or a genius to know what it was. He watched in horror as the camera that had been trained on her back captured the emergence of the wings. They tore their way out like razor blades, splitting her back open almost in its entirety.
There was a railing on the platform and as Chelle fell to her knees from the pain she reached out to grab it in an attempt to brace her fall. The railing snapped in half like a toothpick and Chelle was on the floor on her hands and knees, her face turning a bright red as she attempted to contain herself. The wings fluttered and swayed as if almost looking for something. Their blades and feathers draped Chelle and as the readings came in on the screens, one by one they began to disappear.
Her wings were very swiftly and methodically cutting through every single wire Michael had attached to her. “Shit,” Greg said.
“Turn it off,” Robert shouted. “Shut everything down.”
“Just a few more minutes, Robert. A little suffering now could mean a lot of answers later.”
Robert paced and ran his hands through his hair. The data continued to come in as screens collected information at rapid speed, but some of them were growing dark and shutting down. Soon they were all blank. Greg and Michael looked at each other and smiled. “I think we have a much better understanding of Blackbird now,” Greg said.
Chelle had managed to stand on her own and was now totally disconnected. They took her in. Her wings unfolded to their full length were truly a sight to behold. She stood tall and proud for a moment, the pain seeming to have evaporated. She was truly magnificent.
“Are you alright, Chelle?” Michael said through the mic. She nodded.
Robert sighed, relieved and opened the door to the room she was standing in. From just below the platform she looked down on him and gave him a small smile. “I’ve never let anyone see this. And now everyone has seen it. God, Robert, what must people think of me?” she said, her eyes threatening to spill over. Her voice grew soft. “What must you think of me?”
Robert swallowed hard. He suspected there weren’t enough words in the English language for everything he thought of her. “Chelle,” he began, voice trembling. “Chelle I think you’re one of the most beautiful and wonderful things I’ve ever seen.”
A tiny hiccup escaped from her as the tears that were only threatening moments ago spilled out. He was looking at her with awe, but he thought perhaps she was mistaking that for fear or disgust. “No, Chelle. Truly. I mean it. It’s like I told you that first night. You’re…”
“What?”
“Chelle, you’re some kind of miracle.”
“I don’t believe in miracles. That’s just something people tell themselves.”
“Well, you better get used to it.” He climbed the stairs to the platform, carefully avoiding the broken pieces of metal railing, and came face to face with her. Taking her by the shoulders he said, “I see it. Greg and Michael see it. The whole world has seen it. You’re just incredible.” He reached out, hungry to touch the wings once again and this time he ran his fingers through them with more firmness, thrusting deep while avoiding the metal.
With a soft swishing the wings enclosed around the both of them. Robert took a step forward to avoid having them scrape up against him, now they were standing so close their faces were almost touching. Chelle looked embarrassed, as if something she’d been thinking or feeling had been given away somehow. He wanted to kiss her and tried to move his hands to her face to bring her lips to his, but they were trembling much too furiously. For a long moment they stood, simply looking at one another, shielded in the darkness that the wings provided. Robert’s mind was clicking at a rapid pace. He had never been so nervous with a woman before. All his life he had exuded charm and confidence and he knew it, so why now with this woman was he falling to pieces? He wanted to talk but couldn’t find his voice. He wanted to touch her, but couldn’t find the strength.
Just as he thought the moment of wonderful and awful anxiety would never end they were interrupted by Greg’s voice coming through the speaker. “You guys should come in here and see this.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chelle’s wings opened and Robert hopped down off the platform, extending his hand to her to help her down. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Remember what happened last time?”
“Oh, right,” he said. “Yeah maybe not a good idea.”
“You go on ahead. I’m going to need to get them back in. I won’t fit in that little room like this.”
Robert gave her a smile and turned, leaving her on the platform alone. If it weren’t for the fact that she was standing in full view of all of them behind that glass she would have smacked herself in the forehead. Her wings had enclosed themselves around them and Robert had been shaking. It was subtle but it was there. She wondered if he knew she’d noticed. He was being so virtuous about the whole thing, but it was obvious now that it was for her benefit. Whatever she was scared him to death. It scared her too but she’d had ten years to get used to the idea.
There wasn’t time to dwell on that however because she could sense that she needed to get into that little room. Whatever Greg and Michael had found out before the wings systematically began severing the wires they’d attached she wanted to know. Chelle took a few cleansing breaths and tried to communicate with the wings once again, just like she’d done in the hospital. They had responded to her thoughts that day and hopefully they would do the same now.
Back inside, she thought. Please…go back inside.
They seemed to balk at this, but only for a second. They stretched to their full length for a moment as if taking one final look around and then proceeded to work their way back in. It was painful as always.
When they had finished the familiar process she dropped down on the platform out of sheer exhaustion. Robert came out and helped her down, putting his arm around her waist and walking her to the room where she was given a chair. Robert retrieved a towel from somewhere and held it firmly against her back. The pressure felt mercifully good, and for some reason the harder he pressed the faster she could feel the skin knitting itself back together.
“I’m not hurting you am I?”
“No, press harder. It helps.”
“I have some icepacks if you want them, Chelle,” Michael offered.
“No, just the pressure is good. Press as hard as you can, Robert.” She took a moment to enjoy the feeling before focusing on the subject at hand. “So, what did you find out?”
Greg flipped on a large screen right in front of her and pictures of her skeleton from several different angles filled various points on the display. “Well, here’s what we saw. You know what osteoporosis is?”
“When old people’s bones start to break more easily isn’t it?”
“Well yes, but the reason is because the bones develop holes, which of course, makes them prone to breaks and cracks. Your bones look like that and if you were a normal person, which obviously you’re not, you’d be totally fucked.”
“What my well-spoken colleague means to say is that you’d be infirm. But you’re not and here’s the reason
why.”
Another button was pressed and a video of the process began to play out. Greg continued on. “When you said you had to be threatened in some way we gave you a series of shocks. The first one flooded your system with a type of liquid metal. All those holes you have your bones look like they’re just extra space for this liquid to go. The second shock caused the liquid to solidify into solid metal. When you’re in this state you’re basically a steel cage. All of your organs, your brain, everything is encompassed by this metal, which we don’t yet know what it is. The third shock, well, we all know what happened. Those wings came out like a shot, but, they are only causing you surface wounds since all the arteries are protected too.”
“Which is probably why you don’t bleed to death, because with the large damage they cause most people would.”
“I guess that explains why you can bend crowbars,” Robert said.
Both Michael and Greg stopped. “You can bend crowbars?” Michael said.
“Yeah,” Chelle said, lowering her eyes, embarrassed at the thought. “I get freakishly strong.”
“Oh my god, that is just the hottest thing ever.” Greg paled as everyone gave him a dirty look. “Er, that is to say, it’s very interesting. From a scientific point of view of course. Do you have any other talents?”
“Not that I know of. I don’t think I want any.”
Michael smiled. “So just flying, being incredibly strong, and filling your bones with some kind of metal. Yeah, I’d say that’s enough.”
“Why though? Why does it happen? What’s wrong with me?”
“I’m afraid that’s a question that will be harder to answer. I mean there’s nothing really wrong with you. You’re perfectly healthy. Why it happens and how to stop it, if that’s even possible, are much bigger questions that will take a lot more research.”
Robert took the blood soaked towel away and came around to face her. “I think that’s enough for today. You don’t look so good.”
Blackbird Page 15
