I'm free...

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Third Person POV:

The boys were still looking down at their beaten teammate. They knew they had to get him back to the robot, he needed medical attention asap.

"Oh my god Ryan!" Spyder cheered.
Ryan gave a weak smile.
"It's actually you right?" Mark said with happy tears in his eyes.
Ryan nodded.
"Ryan can you speak?" Harris asked.
Ryan shook his head.
The team looked at one another worriedly.
"Ryan why can't you talk?" Mark asked.
Ryan made a few actions that his team was able to decipher.
"So you haven't talked for 61 days!?" Spyder exclaimed.
Ryan nodded sadly.
"Okay, well that explains why you can't talk. Once we get you fixed up we can easily get your throat back to normal." Harris explained.

The guys looked down at Ryan and looked over to the robot to see how far away they were. It wasn't too far.
"Ry can you walk?" Mark asked.
Ryan shook his head.
"You haven't walked in 61 days have you?" Harris added.
Ryan nodded.

The team sighed. This was going to be difficult. Trying to get Ryan over to the mech without hurting him.
"Wait Ryan! Why don't you just get the robot to stomp on us here?" Spyder asked.

Ryan closed his eyes as he remembered that he doesn't even know if his powers still work. He was so weak, and the ooze may have affected his abilities.

"Haven't dome that in 61 days either huh?" Mark asked.
Ryan nodded.
"It's okay bro, we'll get you over there." Mark said.
Ryan smiled at his brother. He was in a lot of pain, but he couldn't help but just be happy that he was alive and with his friends again.

Mark and Spyder both grabbed one of Ryan's arms and Harris grabbed his legs. They tried to lift him up, but when they did, Ryan screamed out in pain.
"Ryan!" They all yelled.

Ryan realized that he wasn't going to get into the robot easily. But he needed to get back, so he would just have to suck up the pain.
He looked over at Mark and nodded his head.

Mark nodded also and they began to lift him again. It wasn't very hard considering how light and unhealthy he was.

Ryan held his breath. It hurt him so bad, but he needed to get to the robot. Just being inside could help make his powers get stronger again.

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When they finally arrived at the robot, Harris ran to get the medbay ready, while Spyder and Mark brought Ryan inside.

"Okay lay him down there and I'll do a full body scan." Harris said.
"Alright." Mark answered.
Him and Spyder later Ryan down carefully onto the table.
"You're gonna be alright Ry, you're safe now." Mark said as he gently hugged his little brother.

Harris started the scan and gasped in shock when it was finished.
"O-oh g-god Ryan, what did h-he do to you?" Harris whispered.
Ryan closed his eyes, and the days of countless hours of torture came back. He quickly opened them back up.

"Harris what is it. Is he alright!?" Spyder panicked.
"Well, his injuries are really bad, and- just listen to the report. So Ryan has a broken wrist, his ribs are shattered, he has a severe concussion, he is extremely malnourished, so his immune system is incredibly weak, his throat appears to have a thick layer of some sort of scratchy thing that is preventing him from talking, he will need to learn to walk again after not walking for so long, he has deep wounds all over his body that I need to patch up, not to mention the countless amount of whip shaped bruises that cover his body with a high concentration of ooze designed to weaken your power. I don't even know if you can use your power anymore, or if Ryan will ever talk or walk again." Harris said with an angry tone of voice. He couldn't believe what Traeger had done to his best friend. It was horrible.

The two others just gaped their mouths open in shock. Ryan knew this was coming, but when Harris said his injuries out loud, it really made him feel like they were there, and it began to hurt more. He let out of small whimper that they just managed to hear.

"R-Ryan?" Mark said. He had tears coming silently down his face.
Ryan clenched his eyes shut. He didn't want to break down, he wanted to get better. Now!
His best friends looked at the ground with tears coming down their faces. Mark sat on his brothers bedside and cried silently while stroking his hair.

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It was the next day, and they were all awake, thinking about how Ryan would recover. Harris patched up all of his burns and lacerations, given him a cast for his wrist and wrapped his torso for the ribs. He also gave him an IV because Ryan needed more nutrients.

Today was the day they were going to try and get his voice back. They were using some simple techniques like honey, and these lozenges that Mark picked up at a drugstore. When he got back to the robot, they all went into Ryan's room and propped up some pillows for him to sit up.

"Okay Ryan. Soon you'll be able to talk to us alright." Harris said.
Ryan nodded and Mark squirted some honey on a spoon and placed in into Ryan's mouth. Ryan's eyes grew wide, since he hadn't tasted sugar since before he was taken. He smiled slightly at the sugary liquid coating his throat.

"How was that?" Spyder asked.
Ryan opened his mouth to try and talk, but all that came out was a high pitched whisper.
"That's okay we'll just try the lozenges okay." Harris reassured.
Ryan nodded and Mark placed a lozenge in his mouth.
"Okay there is a liquid inside so that when you dissolve the hard shell, it will go down your throat and should fix your throat." Mark explained.
Ryan nodded as he felt the warm medicine slide down his throat.

He took a minute to really focus on talking, and tried to say something.
"h-h-hi." Ryan whispered. He talked! He could talk! It was pretty weak but he talked!
Even he was shocked at the sound of his own voice. He hadn't heard it in over two months!

"Ryan! You talked!" Spyder cheered.
"Y-yea." Ryan said. The more he talked the stronger his voice got.
"That's amazing Ry! But you should get some more rest and we'll come back in later alright."
Mark said.
"Okay." Ryan said and his team left the room. He fell asleep, happy for the first time in so long.

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Ryan woke up to a warm feeling in his throat. He remembered that he could talk now! And his bruises and cuts were starting to heal, and Harris cleaned all the ooze out of the burns so he was getting better.
"Mark? Spyder? Harris?" Ryan called out.
The three came into the room almost instantly.
"Hey Ryan!" Spyder said happily.
"You ready for today?" Mark asked.
"I... I think so" Ryan replied.
"Don't worry Ryan you'll be alright." Harris explained.

Ryan nodded and his team helped him stand up. It hurt a lot less now than it did a few days before. He tried to take a small step forward, but fell into Spyder's arms.
"It's okay Ry, try again."

Ryan held onto Mark and Harris, with Spyder in front and he took a step. Then another. Then another. Then he fell.
"Ryan that was so good!" Mark smiled.
Ryan smiled and began to try again.

This went on all day, until Ryan could finally go for a small walk around the robot with the help of one person. He was really nervous for the next day though, it was time for him to use his powers.

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He woke up, and walked into the X-deck while holding onto stuff around him.
"Morning Guys." He said when he saw them all sitting on the couch. They all gave him a nod.
He walked over and sat with them.
"Okay Ryan, so we're gonna start off easy okay? Just try and turn on this light." Harris said.
"Okay..." Ryan said.

He concentrated, and tried so hard to turn on the lamp, but nothing happened. His eyes didn't even go blue.
"Wh-what's happening to me...!?" Ryan panicked.
"It's okay Ry, just try again alright."
Ryan tried over and over, but nothing happened.
"Wait Ryan, you looked strained when you use your power." Harris pointed out.

Spyder was observing Ryan the whole time, and he noticed something as well.
"You're scared to use your powers."
"What!? No I'm not?" Ryan defended.
"Yes you are. What ever Traeger did to you, is making you scared to use your powers." Spyder explained.

Mark and Harris looked at Ryan for confirmation, and they got it when Ryan spoke, "What he did to me, I can't even speak of it. It was awful. Torture for hours and hours every day until I passed out. He used this ooze whip, that would burn me every time he slashed me with it, and-and one day, i-i stopped feeling pain, I-I felt nothing... he broke me... I obviously felt pain for every torture session after, but in that moment, Traeger broke me." Ryan said. He was crying and so were his friends and brother. They all went into a group hug together wh-....

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Wake up.

Get up!

What is wrong with you!?

..."Congratulations"...

I woke up to dull pain everywhere. I looked around and saw that I was still in my dirty old cell. I was never free, I will never be free.

I look up to see Traeger standing in front of me with a gun at my head.
"Congratulations Ryan Walker. You are 'free'." He snarled.

I heard the click of a trigger, then a sharp pain through my head, then everything went black. I had no more pain, no more suffering....
But was I really free?

Ummmmmmmm okay wow. Did not expect this to go this way. I kinda just write and see where my brain takes me... and clearly this was where it went! Sorry I haven't uploaded in awhile, it's been a rough few days with lots of bad news and I just really didn't feel like writing. Anyways thanks for reading and that's  the end to this 3-shot.
~K