KAISA HÄMÄLÄINEN

"And run, like you'd run from the law
Darling, let's run
Run from it all"

AS THEY PASSED some trees, Kaisa soon realized that the men lied about where it was they were taking her. They told her as soon as she got in the car that hey were taking her to the nearest orphanage. Of course... She shoud've known better. It was a trap. They left the orphanage ten minutes and 33 seconds ago. 34... 35... 36...

Kaisa looked up at the men from the mirror and tried to speak, to ask them where they were going, who they think they are, if this is a kidnapping, but then the man sitting on the passenger seat turned around and pulled a syringe out, injecting it directly into her left arm. Kaisa screamed, but soon started to see everything more blurry and her head suddenly felt heavy. Or maybe her neck got too weak? She felt her body going limp as her consciousness slips away, out of her reach.

-______-

As she woke up, she wished she hadn't. The first thing she noticed and could make out from the previous darkness was a scientist. Or a doctor? He had a white mask covering his face, his clothes were also all white. Kaisa could swear it was a stark contrast to his soul. She looked around the room, and as she tried to move, she realized she was restrained. She was tied to the table she was on, not able to do anything. She felt like a lab rat.

"She's awake, sir!" The scientist/doctor in front of her said, drawing all attention to him for a split second before all eyes turned to the little girl. That's when she realized just how many people there were in the room/lab. She felt uncomfortable under their gaze and decided to stay silent for as long as possible.

"Well hello, child. This is the first test we're running on you, but don't worry, you'll experience more in the future, this is only the beginning!" A blond man spoke and as Kaisa's eyes adjusted to the harsh, unnaturally white light and the last bit of dizziness faded away, she immidately recognized him. He was the police officer, the chief, who asked her all those questions. But what was he doing here? Does he also, secretly work with these monsters? So it was a trap from the very beginning...

"What should we do with her, sir?" Asked another scientist.

"She'll be perfect for our new project... Poltergeist. You'll do great things for this organization, child." He smiled at her in a very unnerving way before turning to the scientists and nodding his head, signaling to do something. The scientists injected her with another dose of tranquilizer.

-______-

As she regained consciousness, she realised she couldn't see anything, probably due to the piece of fabric covering her eyes. She slowly pulled the blindfold off and looked around.

She was in a different place. It was a small cell. She tried standing up, only to be stopped in the middle of the action. She looked down. Restraints. She was chained to the ground. The most she could reach with her hands was her eyebrows, and only when sitting down. There were four chains two on her wrists, two on her ankles. She felt a small itch on her neck and when she raised her hands to get rid of it, she felt a collar on her neck and immediately looked down at it. It was tight, too tight. It wasn't tight enough to strangle her, but enough to make her feel it being there on her all the time, like all the other uncomfortable reminders of her past life mistakes.

She had spent enough time in that cell and with those scientists that she started to think of it as her personal karma, that she deserved this. Her past had finally caught up to her, just like that man with the metal arm said in her nightmare.

Kaisa knew they won't kill her here. At least not yet and not directly, she knew they knew about her powers, the blonde didn't exactly hide it well. Especially if the chief's real job was kidnapping powered individuals and using them as a tool for his own benefit in the name of "helping the world". Kaisa scoffed to herself at that thought. They must've thought she was a stupid and naive little girl, who's ready to listen to them and obey their every order. That that simple half-sentence was enough to make her an obedient little slave. THEIR obedient, naive, stupid little slave/weapon.

So, on her seventh day there, as she counted the seconds (634,765 seconds, almost a whole week), she made a promise to herself. She swore on her life that she will be the exact opposite of what they wanted her to be, of what they tried to manipulate her to be. She saw right through it. All of it. She knew better than to be fooled by the very people who took her away from a somewhat stable life, stripped away her last grip on reality and performed experiments on her like a lab rat.

She was soon taken to another location, breaking the second location rule. Hell, it was already broken when she was taken to this cell a week and a half (895 019 seconds) ago. Now she was double-sure no one will find her, and even if she screamed, yelled and cried as hard and as loud as she could, she would only be beaten and tortured more. She knew where she was. Or at least where she wasn't. She knew it must've taken at least two days to get her here, based on the amount of sleeping pills they forced her to swallow, and also she woke up one time during her 'exportation' and knew they were out of the country. And she knew it wasn't some Eastern European country, nor Australia, nor anywhere in Africa, no, it was too cold.

Kaisa tried to appear unconscious as they threw her in what she assumed was another cell. She could escape, but she knew that that's exactly what the stupid guard in front of her wants her to try to do. She knew that with the minimum food she got in a day and the severe beatings weakened her body. She also knew that even if she somehow managed to get the upper hand on this guard, she won't even make it past the hallway they dragged her in, she knew, because she observed it, like everything, all the time, and saw that there were at least eight guards always on duty, which made her stop to think for a second. That must've meant she wasn't alone here, there were more likely other prisoners. And they were most likely older, bigger and stronger, so if they couldn't make it out, who's to guarantee she will? She's just a small child whose body got completely used to the American heat waves and even if she made it past all the guards and got out of this base (1 in 1,000 chance), she would freeze in the cold.

The guards knew what they were doing, this wasn't by accident, they had planned this all out. They knew, she knew. She had officially lost the battle. But this isn't about a battle, there is still the war she can win. They may have weakened her already small body with small portions of food, water and a harsh beating every day, but they can't break her mind, her soul. Not if she gets a say in it, and she will. She will fight against them every single day until the day of her escape comes or the sweet sensation of death she knows all too well. In fact, she had already started to plan her escape. She started it the minute she woke up on that bed in the lab.

A small knocking on the window of her cell is what made her look up, breaking her out of her thoughts. The knocking on the cell that's walls were made out of unbreakable windows was too quiet, too gentle for it to belong to a guard.

As she recognized the person, her eyes instantly widened and she sat up as quickly as she could, trying to get as far away from the person as possible. As much as she hated to admit it, due to her already delicate ego, she was afraid of the person. It was a quite unfamiliar feeling to her, it felt strange to be afraid of someone, her, Nea Heinonen, afraid of someone other than herself? Unbelievable. Unbelievable, but sadly true.

The man looked straight into her eyes, making her shiver. His eyes were so unempathetic, so unfeeling, so cruel and cool... Was she shivering because of his gaze, because of the cold or because the realisation finally hit her as a big truck does to an innocent bystander? Could be all three, combined.

Kaisa slowly and cautiously looked the man up and down, her eyes widening even more in both fear and recognition, her eyes stopping at one specific body part, unable to tear her gaze away, even though she knew staring was rude.

He had a metal arm.