𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞

Ⅻ 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆

IT FELT, NO, IT WAS UNVAREABLE. The soldier pressed the taser harder against Chris's side, her body trying to jerk away from the electrical current. The man pulled the taser away and Chris's body involuntary relaxed, her breathing hard and fast. The Russian captain pulled a chair up, seating himself of Chris's bound figure. "Let's try this again," The man growled, and Chris sputtered coughing on her spit as her hands fought against the binds on her wrists. "How did you acquire your abilities?"

"I got them when I was a kid," Chris groaned, her head slumping forward. "I don't remember much, I was seven." The man sighed, motioning for the man to continue. The soldier struck Chris across the face, bruising her jawbone. Chris winced her head snapping to one side.

"How did you acquire your abilities?" The captain repeated.

"I don't remember!" Chris yelled. The man struck her face again, knocking her teeth against her cheek.

"How did you acquire your abilities?"

"I don't- I don't remember!" The man hit her again, and again. Her teeth tore at the skin of her cheek making Chris cough up blood.

"How did you acquire your abilities?" Chris stayed silent, feeling the blood start to pool in the bottom of her mouth. The captain sighed, standing up and straightening his jacket. "Hit her until she speaks." The three soldiers nodded moving out of the way of the captain.

The first man stepped up, slamming his fist against Chris's mouth, again and again. Her teeth clanged together, ripping her cheek and lips. Chris spat her blood onto the floor. A man stepped behind her ripping her hair back and making her stare up at the soldier, who patiently waited for her to speak. Chris shuddered, the blood from her torn skin dripping down her chin and onto her shirt. The soldier nodded and another man shoved the taser against her side again.

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THAT PAIN WAS INTENSE  IT HAD NUMBED HER NERVES. Chris spat out another heap of blood, her throat getting tighter, the electric buzzing in her ears seeming permanent. The guards hit her so hard that her lips split open, the cut on the right side of her top lip permanently scared, tore to hell. Bruises covered her torso and arms from the constant beatings and hits from a baton against her skin. The captain lifted her head again, pressing his thumb into the new gash across her right cheek that made her squirm.

"Will you continue to lie to us?" The man growled softly.

"Screw you," Chris mumbled.

The man sighed and dropped Chris's head. "Your pyrotechnic ability raises your body temperature," The man pointed out, looking over at the small machine that read Chris's vitals. "Did you know, that electricity heats up? You say you're fireproof, let's see if you can resist a little electricity. That boy can't, the one in the sailor's uniform."

Chris's head snapped up, her eyes full of orange. "Did you touch him?" Chris growled, tugging at her binds once again. "I swear to god I'll burn you alive!" Cracks broke out on Chris's skin. However, the exhaustion took over Chris's body and the cracks subsided.

The man chuckled leaning back down, staring into Chris's glowing eyes. "I may have believed you if you weren't half-dead," The man straightened, ordering something in Russian.

The men surrounding Chris, jabbed different metal prongs under Chris's skin, hooking onto her flesh. Chris winced pulling away from their hold but it just made the metal hooks shift under her skin. The chords ran from her skin to a battery-type of machine. "Don't, please don't," Chris begged, tears starting to fall. The man turned away from her and turned up a dial and electricity started to course through her veins.

Chris cried out as the lights started to flicker. The electrical current burned Chris's skin in a way she hadn't felt before. "Chrisanna..." A voice called to her. Chris slumped forward her muscles losing the strength to keep her upright. "Chris you have to stay awake!"

"Help me, please," Chris whined. A hand reached out to clutch Chris's hand, just as her eyes closed.

"CHRISANNA! BREAKFAST!" JULIAN CALLED. Chris sighed and pushed herself out of bed, tossing her book to the side and carefully switching her music off. "There you are, thought you were sleeping in again," Her father teased as she rushed downstairs.

"Sorry, I got caught up in a reading," Chris sighed taking the juice from the table. "Uh, dad, you got orange juice again," Chris complained.

"Shit, sorry hun," Julian apologized. "You have to write it on the list."

Chris hummed and nodded looking at the front door, furrowing her eyebrows at the glass rose window on the front wall. Chris looked around, small things slightly out of place. Chris walked past a window and looked out. There was no fake overly green grass, no large trees, no withering strawberry bushes; just a long abyss of empty nothing. A dark and ever-going void.

"Chrisanna? Is something wrong?" Julian asked, looking over at her. Chris looked in the mirror behind her that hung on the wall. Instead of the young  teen Chrisanna that would be running around, the one that lived in New York; it was her now. A bloodied and beaten twenty-year-old, fire peering through her skin as her eyes illuminated in bright orange. "Chris?"

Chris stumbled back and ran from the house, falling onto the black glossy floor. A few inches of water rippled around her as she rushed to stand. "No. No, no, no, no, no" Chris shuddered, wrapping around her body, the same chilling feeling she's felt only twice before. Chris brought her hand up to feel her pulse and just as before, she had no pulse. Just as before when she died in a car crash, just as she died from cancer.

Chris looked down at her feet. Below the water under something equivalent to glass, swirled the orange speckles. Chris dropped back to her knees pressing her hands against the floor. Chris reeled her right arm up and slammed her fist down, making a glass crack in the glass. "Let me out..." Chris whispered as she brought her arm back up and slammed it back down. "Let me out..." Chris continued to slam her hands down until the glass broke enough for Chris to fall through.

CHRIS'S EYES OPENED, HEAT AND PAIN COURSING THROUGH HER VEINS. Chris opened her eyes and made the binds that held her against the chair turn to ash with a single thought. Men rushed into the room, their guns trained on Chris as she started to lift into the air. Chris hovered above the floor, just inches below the ceiling. Chris waved her hand in front of her and brought a wave of hellfire across the wall, through the line of men and swirling around the room. Chris brought the flames back towards her before throwing them back out against the wall, cracking through the concrete and metal that kept her caged.

Chris lowered herself back to the floor and stepped out of the wall into the hall where more guards awaited. A barrier surrounded Chris's body as they fired their guns, stopping and melting as they hit the shield. Chris flicked her hands and the shield broke apart, transforming into fire and bounding through the halls to burn the remaining soldiers. Chris sent the fire away and the power diminished and Chris returned to normal.

Chris walked over to a whimpering solder on the floor, his skin melting off and dropping onto the floor in wet chunks. Chris stepped over him and pulled him up by his collar and he screamed in pain. "The ones in the sailor outfits, where are they?" Chris demanded, raising him up and slamming him against the wall. Chris's eyes darkened from orange to dark red as he stayed quiet.

"The hall- down- down the hall!" The guard choked out. Chris released his collar and dropped him onto the floor. Chris walked down the hall, pausing only when the rev of an engine drew closer.

"Do you see her?!" Dustin shouted from afar, his voice bouncing off the walls.

"No, she must be further ahead!" Erica called back. Chris stepped into the next hall over, pressing her hands to the front of the vehicle Dustin was driving.

"Chris," Dustin said with a smile, a sigh of relief leaving his chest. Chris raced to his side, smiling. Chris took his hat off and pressed a kiss to his curls. "Holy shit, you're bleeding."

"It's fine, scooch," Chris ordered, pushing Dustin into the middle. Chris took the wheel and sped off down the hall.

"Jesus, slow down!" Steve complained when the car hit a bump.

"Yeah, what is this, like, the Indy 500?" Robin chuckled.

"It's the Indy 300," Steve corrected.

"No, dingus, it's 500!" Robin snarked.

"It's 300!" Steve yelled.

"Let's say a million," Robin compromised making them both burst into laughter.

"What happened to them?" Chris asked in confusion, glancing behind her quickly.

"I don't know!" Dustin shouted.

Chris skidded the small transport vehicle to a stop, making everyone slide slightly. "Shit!" Dustin cursed, holding onto Chris's arm. "You guys all right back there?" Steve and Robin groaned in pain. "They're fine."

The three slipped out of the front seats, Chris rushing for the back of the car. Dustin opened a latch on the back of the red car, swinging the back door open. "Come on. We gotta go, now," Dustin ordered.

"Come on! Get out!" Chris yelled tugging on Steve's leg receiving a sound of pain.

"Let's go!" Erica yelled in agreement.

"We're coming!" Robin yelled kicking herself out of the van. Dustin opened the elevator doors, and Chris hurried the kids inside. Chris took the key from Erica and slammed it against the controls, staring the elevator journey upwards.

"Hey, Sinclair, you alright?" Chris asked, slumping against the wall.

"Why? You worried or something?" Erica snapped.

"Yeah, a bit," Chris nodded.

"Hey! You look like you're surfing!" Robin recognized as she shook the cart Steve stood on. Steve wobbled as he held his arms out.

"Surfing! Yeah!" Steve yelled in happiness. "Whoa!"

"They seem drunk," Erica pointed out.

"Why would they be drunk?" Dustin yelled in confusion.

"I'm a natural! Check it out!" Steve shouted as Robin continued to shake the cart. "Whoop!" Steve stumbles and falls into a pile of boxes, laying flat on the floor.

"Wipeout!" Robin yelled, pointing at Steve with a smile. Dustin knelt next to Steve and Chris slid over to hold his head straight.

"He's burning up," Dustin noted, pressing his palm against Steve's forehead.

"You're burning up," Steve mocked.

"One sec, one sec," Dustin spoke reaching for Steve's face. Steve weakly caught his hands, trying to push him away. "Steve, Steve."

"God, no," Steve whined as Dustin pried open his less injured eye. "Ow!"

"His pupils are super dilated," Dustin said turning quickly to face Erica.

"Maybe he's drugged," Erica offered.

"Ugh. Boop!" Steve bopped Dustin's nose as soon as Dustin turned back to him.

"Steve, did they drug you?" Chris asked leaning over him.

"How many times, Mom? I don't do drugs. It's only marijuana," Steve joked, his head rolling to the side in Chris's hold.

"This isn't funny, okay? I need to know what they did to you," Dustin rushed. "Are you gonna die on us?"

"Boop," Steve said in response tapping Dustin's nose again. Steve reached up, holding Chris's face in his hands. "Pretty," Steve slurred.

"We all die, my strange little child friend," Robin spoke up. "It's just a matter of how...and when."

"They're gonna be looking for us up there, so I need you to tell me where you parked your car is parked," Dustin spoke slowly, trying to get the words through Steve's head.

"Oh, can we make a pit stop at the food court?" Steve asked looking over to Robin.

"I would kill for a hot dog on a stick," Robin said in agreement.

"Ooh!" Steve cooed.

"All right. Yeah, food," Dustin nodded. "Yes, you can have as much food as you want, but only if you tell me where your car is."

"Uh-oh," Steve spoke up, his eyes widening.

"Uh-oh? What's uh-oh?" Chris questioned, spinning Steve's head to look back at her.

"The car's off the board," Steve explained.

"What?"

"They took the keys," Steve's said pulling at his pockets. "The Russians, they took the keys. Like, forever ago." Steve and Robin started laughing again.

"Chris where's your car?" Dustin asked, looking hopefully at his sister.

"Round back near the staff entrance," Chris recalled. "But my keys are in the shop, I can run in and grab them." Dustin nodded and took the key from Chris, tossing it to Erica. Chris grabbed Steve's arm helping him stand up before rushing to Erica who opened the elevator doors, throwing them open.

"Oh!" Robin exclaimed, inhaling the air. "Oh, my God, that tastes so good. Ah! Steve, can you taste the air?" The two stuck out their tongues trying to absorb the air.

"I taste it! I taste it!" Steve confirmed.

"Hey, stop shouting," Chris scolded trying to quiet the two. The black gate buzzed and opened and two Russian guards ran through.

"Shit! Come on! Come on!" Dustin yelled turning back and grabbing Steve, Erica grabbing Robin. Chris threw a shield up as cover, throwing it back at the guards and knocking them over. "Chrisanna!" Dustin shouted. Chris turned away and chased after her brother, into a side door of Starcourt.

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