by Lucas Flint
“I said, you will stay put,” said Incantation. “Stay. Understand?”
I was about to say that no, I didn't understand, and that I didn't really need to understand, but then I felt something in my head move a little. It felt like someone was putting pressure on my mind, a familiar sensation, but I wasn't sure where I had felt it before.
The sensation faded quickly, though, so I said, “Okay, I'll stay. How long?”
“For as long as it takes you to recover,” said Incantation. “And by the time you do, you'll be a completely different person.”
“What?” I said. “What do you mean, I'll be a completely different person?”
Instead of answering my question, Incantation waved her hand at me. “It's nothing. Just rest. You look tired.”
I was about to say that no, I didn't, but then a sudden drowsiness came over me. I sank into my sheets and mattresses, fighting to keep my eyes open, but my eye lids were just too heavy, like heavy curtains being drawn over my eyes.
The last thing I saw, before I went under completely, was Incantation's smirking face.
-
I awoke again, but I wasn't sure how much later. I thought about going back to sleep, because it was really dark, but then I noticed that I wasn't lying in my bed anymore. Instead, I was lying on cold, hard concrete, clad in my makeshift super suit. I touched my face and felt my ski mask, which still clung to my head.
My head didn't hurt anymore, though my wound was still bandaged. I slowly but surely sat up, doing my best not to reopen my wound, and looked around the room. It was too dark to see anything; I couldn't even see my hands in front of my face.
“Hello?” I called out. “Is anyone there?”
My words echoed off into the distance, which made me wonder if I was stuck at the bottom of a pit. That didn't make any sense, though, because I had been lying in a hospital bed just moments ago.
Or had it been moments ago? I didn't know how much time had actually passed. It didn't feel like a lot of time had passed, but how could I be sure? There wasn't even a wall clock for me to check.
Rising to my feet, I said, “Incantation? Hopper? Is anyone there?”
No answer. Just my own words echoing back at me, until they eventually faded into nothingness.
Then I heard footsteps somewhere in the darkness. I looked around, but the echoing made it impossible to tell which direction the footsteps were coming from. My survival instinct kicked in, however, so I summoned my super strength, ready to fight if necessary.
A light suddenly turned on, which made me cover my eyes for a moment to avoid getting blinded. But eventually, my eyes adjusted to the bright light and I lowered my hands to see what had caused it.
Sarah Jane Watson stood there, carrying a large, bulky flashlight in her hand. Although she looked pretty much the same as she did before, she no longer looked nearly as frightened or timid. She was smiling, the first time I had ever seen her smile, and it was the creepiest smile I had ever seen in my life. Some girls, when they smiled, looked beautiful, but with Sarah, it actually made her look even uglier than ever.
“Sarah?” I said. “What are you doing here? Where am I? Where are the others?”
Sarah just kept smiling. “The others are safe. But they aren't important at the moment. What is important is fixing your mind.”
I frowned. “What? My mind is fine, thank you very much. Is this a joke?”
“A joke?” said Sarah indignantly. “This isn't a joke. This is super serious, but I guess a gross guy like you wouldn't understand.”
“Listen, Sarah, I don't have time for your games,” I said. “I just need to find out where I am and how to get out of here. My parents are probably worried sick about me.”
“Who cares what your parents think?” said Sarah derisively. “They probably believe all that crap about super powers being genetic and other problematic things. So gross and wrong.”
“But it's true,” I said. “Super powers are genetic and—”
Suddenly, I heard a loud, crashing sound like hundreds of pots and pans being banged together over and over again. I slammed my hands over my ears, but I still heard the crashing sounds as clearly as ever, like the noise was inside my head. The noises actually sounded like screaming voices, like someone had recorded a bunch of other people screaming and then remixed the sound into something monstrous and deafening.
I fell to my knees, trying to block out the crashing and screaming, but it didn't work. I looked up at Sarah, who appeared entirely unaffected by the loud noises that came from everywhere.
“Sarah, what's going on?” I shouted, my voice lost in the crashing and screaming. “Is this your doing?”
Sarah didn't answer. She just looked at me coldly, like I should know what was going on. I felt like my head was about to explode.
But then Sarah waved her hand and the crashing and screaming stopped just as suddenly as it came. I was never one for silence, but the silence that followed was pure bliss in comparison to the agonizing sounds that had assaulted my mind just moments earlier.
But I still didn't rise. I lowered my hands from my ears hesitatingly and then looked around again, but I didn't see yje source of the sounds anywhere.
“There,” said Sarah. “That is what you get for daring to say such gross things to me.”
Rubbing the back of my head, I looked up at Sarah and said, “What is going on? Where are we? Is this your doing?”
“Oh my god, you just keep asking the same questions over and over,” said Sarah with a sigh. “It's so problematic. You should educate yourself.”
“Educate myself?” I said in disbelief. “How? I don't even know where to start.”
“I guess I'll have to tell you, then,” said Sarah with a long, annoyed sigh. “Whatever. I doubt you'll listen, because you genetics types tend to be really arrogant and gross, but whatever.”
“Just get on with it,” I said. “Are we still in the House?”
“Yes,” said Sarah. “I won't tell you exactly where, however, because you aren't supposed to know that. All you need to know is that you're stuck here for good.”
“What is the purpose of this place, then?” I said. “Why am I down here? Is this some kind of test?”
“Test? I hate tests,” said Sarah. “No, actually we're just going to … correct some of your problematic ideas.”
“Problematic ideas?” I said. “What do you mean?”
“Like, educate you,” said Sarah. “We're going to make sure that you stop being such an oppressive, mean person. We're going to make you better so that when we let you back out, you won't go around spouting such harmful things anymore.”
“I don't need any education,” I said. I rose back to my feet again, but this time I was ready to run if I had to. “I'm fine just the way I am.”
“No, you're not,” said Sarah. She shuddered, like I had just said something extremely offensive. “You just don't know how ignorant you are.”
“Well, if you're going to give me an education, this is a pretty silly classroom,” I said, looking around the area. “There aren't even any blackboards.”
“That's not the kind of education we're going to give you,” said Sarah. “We're going to give you the kind of education you need, even though you obviously don't think that you do.”
“Why?” I said. “Why not just let me go?”
“Because we're not supposed to,” said Sarah. “We were told to make you into one of us.”
“Who told you that?” I said. “Someone in the NHA?”
“I'm not telling you that,” said Sarah, shaking her head. “All you need to know is that we are going to make you one of us … whether you want to or not.”
“What if I don't want to become one of you?” I said. I stepped backwards. “What if I want to go home and never speak with you or your freak friends ever again?”
Sarah suddenly burst into tears. “Freak friends? That's so harmful. You're such a mean person.”
“N
o, I'm not,” I said. “I'm—”
I was interrupted by the screaming and crashing sounds again, which forced me back down to my knees. I covered my ears, but the sounds echoed in my skull, crashing again and again against my thoughts. I tried screaming, but my jaw felt wired shut.
“Stop thinking,” said Sarah. Her voice sounded clear in my head, despite the screaming and crashing sounds. “Stop disagreeing. Only obey. Only listen. Never question.”
I would have told Sarah what she could do with herself, but the mental pounding I was taking was too much. I tried standing, activating my super strength to make me strong, but even with my power flowing through me, I could barely stand. I took a step toward Sarah, but it seemed like Sarah was a million miles away, even though she couldn't have been more than fifty feet away, if that.
“Lie down,” said Sarah. “I can end the pain if you would just stop questioning. If you agree to accept the truth, then I can help you.”
“What … truth?” I said. Even just saying those two words was almost impossible.
“That our powers are nothing more than a social construct,” said Sarah, “that if we are to achieve true equality, that we must be inclusive of everyone and never question another's identity regardless of what the 'facts' say.”
I bit my lower lip. The screaming and crashing sounds were intensely painful, but I'd never agree to that. Still, I needed to stop Sarah. I wasn't sure if she actually had powers and the others had lied to me earlier when they said she didn't or if this was part of some weird technology or something. All I knew was that I would go insane if I didn't stop it as soon as possible.
So I activated my super speed and ran straight at her. I didn't intend to kill or even harm her, but if I could stop her, that would be good.
But then I ran straight through her, like she didn't really exist at all. Skidding to a stop, I turned to face Sarah, who was now flickering in and out of existence like a hologram.
Sarah turned to face me, her smirk never leaving her lips. “So stupid. Did you really think I'd be here in person, where you could harm me? Of course not. Doing things in person is icky anyway. I like to do things where I'm safe from harm.”
“Then where …” I stopped speaking when the sounds in my head temporarily increased in volume, but then forced myself to keep speaking anyway. “Then where are you?”
“I'm not going to tell you,” said Sarah. “At least not until you listen and believe, anyway. Will you?”
I shook my head. “Never. I don't know what's really going on here, but I'm going to leave whether you want me to or not.”
“That's what others have said,” said Sarah. “But they always break at some point or another. It's just a matter of finding the right pressure.”
All of a sudden, the screaming and crashing sounds in my head grew deafeningly loud. I couldn't even hear my own thoughts. It was like a bomb had gone off in my head. I screamed in agony and fell down to my hands and knees, only this time I wasn't sure I would be getting up again. It felt like a giant hand was pressing down on me, pushing me down harder and harder despite myself.
I tried to scream. I tried to yell. I tried to fight it. But this wasn't a physical thing like a robot. It was mental and I didn't have any mental powers. I couldn't fight against it. I dug my fingers into the floor, praying that my pain would leave, but it did nothing.
“At what point will you break?” Sarah said above me, her voice still clear. “But you know, we don't have to break you. If you would just agree to be reeducated, we could skip all this. I hate having to harm you like this, but this is what we have to do sometimes when dealing with problematic people like you.”
What a liar. I could tell, even in my pain, that Sarah was taking great joy in watching me suffer. She was enjoying every moment of this, taking glee in my pain. I wanted to strangle her, but I couldn't.
“We can end this anytime,” said Sarah. “Just say the word and I will let up.”
I gritted my teeth. No way was I going to bow down to this woman. Or agree with her stupid ideology. My anger sent a renewed sense of power through me, allowing met to push myself up again inch by inch.
“What?” said Sarah. She sounded panicked now. “How are you doing this? You shouldn't be able to fight back. You should be down.”
“Maybe … I'm not as weak as you think,” I said. Even just saying those words was pure agony, but I was not going to let her keep me down, not anymore.
I felt the pressure of the sounds increase, but I ignored it. I just forced myself up bit by bit, pushing back against the pressure, until I was now looking up at Sarah again.
She looked as stunned as if I had just punched her in the face. It was clear that she hadn't expected me to push back against her at all. And it was hard to do, but I wasn't about to let her break me, no matter how much pain she inflicted on me.
“Stop it,” said Sarah. She pointed at me in anger. “Get back down. Stop fighting back.”
I shook my head. “No. Why don't you just leave me alone?”
I shouted that word so loudly that it was like a bomb going off. Suddenly, Sarah staggered backwards, covering her ears in pain. And just as suddenly, the screaming and crashing sounds in my head went silent, which felt like pure bliss after suffering from them even for the brief period that I did.
Standing upright, I walked over to Sarah, who was now whimpering like a baby on the ground. Even though she was apparently just a hologram, I had somehow managed to hurt her, though she seemed more stunned at my resistance than anything.
“All right, Sarah,” I said, putting my hands on my waist as I looked down at her. “Tell me how to get out of here. Or else.”
“Never,” Sarah whimpered, still clutching her ears. “Why are you so mean? You're not supposed to hit back.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sorry, but just because you're a girl doesn't mean I have to treat you nicely. I liked how you talked big, though, when you were dominating me earlier.”
Sarah suddenly glared at me with her small, shifty eyes. “Then if you won't join us … we will kill you!”
Without warning, Sarah vanished before me. I stepped backwards, thinking this was some kind of attack, but then the lights suddenly turned on and I got to see where I was.
I was standing in the middle of a large, concrete room that looked like a training area of sorts, though it didn't look like the Training Room that the Young Neos had shown me before. Tall concrete pillars rose all around me, though they looked cracked and old from use.
Then I noticed something above. On the wall opposite me was a glass window that seemed to be the viewing area for people watching the fight. Beyond the window, I saw all five of the Young Neos, including Sarah herself, standing there like they had been watching me the whole time.
A crackling of a speaker echoed through the room and in the next second I heard Incantation's voice coming from the speaker above the window. “Kevin, we thought we could make you one of us, but it is obvious that we can't. Hopper, execute him.”
Hopper nodded and raised a hand. I didn't know what he was going to do until suddenly, without warning, a portal appeared in the center of the room, hundreds of feet away from me.
But unlike the other portals Hopper had summoned, this one had nothing but darkness beyond it. I felt a sucking sensation trying to drag me toward it, like a huge vacuum cleaner.
And that was when I realized how they were trying to kill me: They were trying to suck me into who-knows-where, just as Hopper had told me he could do with his powers what seemed like an eternity ago. And I saw no way for me to escape the room.
Chapter Thirteen
The sucking force of the portal dragged me toward it. I turned and ran, but I could barely find traction on the floor. The portal's sucking power was too strong, like I was a piece of metal and it was a giant magnet.
I grabbed one of the nearest concrete pillars, digging my fingers deep into its surface with my super strength. While that kept me from being sucked i
nto it, that didn't make the portal itself go away. I could feel its sucking power growing stronger and stronger as it attempted to devour me. I knew that eventually it would grow too powerful for me to escape, so I had to look for a way out fast.
I looked frantically around for an exit, but as far as I could tell the room was sealed off. That made me wonder how I got in here at all, but it didn't matter if there were even a hundred doors, because the portal's sucking power meant that if I let go of the concrete pillar, I'd just end up getting sucked into whatever void it was trying to draw me into.
I looked up at the Young Neos behind the glass above. They all looked satisfied to see me being drawn into their portal. Sarah, in particular, looked like she was watching a great movie and couldn't wait to see how it ended. I thought about screaming at them to stop, to let me go in peace, but that was only for a moment. These freaks wanted me dead and they were going to try their hardest to make sure that I didn't survive no matter how much I begged and pleaded for them to spare me.
It didn't help that the portal was sucking more than just me. The air was getting thinner because the portal was sucking the air into it, which made it harder to breathe in here. My grip on the pillar was getting weaker and weaker. Soon my grip would break completely and I would go flying into the portal.
But I had to escape. And if there wasn't a door, then I would just make one myself.
So I let go of the concrete pillar, but at the same time, I activated my super speed. I intended to outrun the portal's sucking force, going as fast as I could. I didn't know if it was possible to outrun it even with my super speed, but I had to give it a shot.
Immediately, I started running in the opposite direction of the portal. I made good distance, but the portal started sucking me in even harder than before. It was like it was a living thing, trying to keep me from escaping its hungry grasp, though I figured that was just Hopper increasing the power and strength of the portal.
