Twelve months and a week later...
New York - New York City - [Location Unknown] - Sunday, November 1st 2026 - 00:02
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It was cold. Bitterly cold. The kind of cold that seeps into your body, draining your energy. Sapping you of warmth. But strangely it felt realer, more tangible than anything she could remember. Still, her entire body felt numb, lifeless. Her heart beat slow; dragging, struggling, weakening by the second. Somewhere in the back of her mind, something told her if she didn’t move now, she’d never move again.
Her eyes flew open, as her body came to life with a start. She shielded her eyes, blinded by the light around her, unable to make sense of the situation. Before she could take a moment to recover, a stab of panic shot through her chest. She couldn’t breathe. She panicked, writhing about uselessly before she realised her mistake. Her body burned, protesting at the sudden movement, the pain in her muscles begging her to stop. So she did, just as unused to the pain as she was to the panic.
After a few seconds, her heart burning in her chest, she realised she could breathe. It felt wrong, really wrong, but she could breathe. She squirmed slightly. She felt sick, bloated. Her insides unnatural. Heavy. There was liquid in her lungs. Why was their liquid in her lungs? She went to move again, and for the first time noticed the resistance against her body. What the hell? She looked around, blinking. All she could make out were blurry shapes and darkness. She was surrounded by water. No, not water. Something weirder. A jelly? Why was she trapped in weird breathable jelly? It pulsed with energy, buzzing. The buzz sent a shiver down her spine.
She blinked again, her eyes burning more now. She needed to get out. She needed to get out quickly. Gritting her teeth, she pulled herself forwards, pulling at tubes she hadn’t even been aware of as she reached out. Her hands slammed against something invisible. Glass. She felt around, her fingers sliding across it’s surface. Shit. A tube. She must’ve been in some kind of tube. Pushing against it harder, she cried out desperately as she exerted as much force as possible onto her cage. Then with an almighty crack it shattered and she was thrown, pulled by the current of the water till she slammed onto the floor, coughing hard.
As she recovered, she flinched, covering her ears. It was noisy. Really noisy. Alarms were blaring everywhere. She groaned, her entire body trembling from exertion. She felt like complete and utter shit. She clamped her eyes shut gasping for air as she tried not pass out. Why was everything so… vibrant? Her senses were overwhelming her. She coughed hard again, before spewing vomit on the floor. She gagged and leapt away from it, slamming into something. She picked herself up quickly and through watery eyes, looked around the room.
“What the fuck?” she mumbled to herself, freezing in place. The space around her was dark, dotted with dim red ceiling lights that flashed repeatedly. But within the space, she was surrounded by tubes, similar to the one she’d just broken out of, each containing a person. Some men, some women, some boys, and some girls. Even a baby. She frowned. The whole place felt familiar… but different. Where the hell was she? She’d been… she’d been… spying? On who? Some scientist? No, that wasn’t right. She’d been leaving work, then… then nothing? Her head throbbed. She couldn’t make sense of her own memories.
Suddenly her brain buzzed, and her eyes widened. Something was coming. Instinctively she leapt up, landing on the wall and quickly crawled behind one of the tubes. She hid for a few seconds, steadying her breathing as she waited. She paused for a moment, frowning. Since when the hell could she stick to walls? She tried to think, but her brain was scrambled. Dammit, she couldn’t make sense of anything. She jumped slightly as a loud metallic screech echoed through the area, followed by the sound of a large of footsteps. Men with guns rushed past her tube, followed by an ominous looking man of metal. She pressed herself further behind the tube, looking over the metal man’s ridiculously sharp tail. She held her breath. She could feel it. He was dangerous.
The soldiers spotted the empty tube, and looked to the metal man as he towered over them, his tail snaking through the air.
“Search then! Idiots!” he shouted, pointing around. The men rushed, spreading outwards as the man looked down at the glass. The man followed the glass, then his eyes stopped on the liquid. Her heart dropped. She’d left a trail.
Before the metal man had a chance to do anything, she launched the tube she hid behind and sprinted for the door. The sound of glass exploding against metal told her all she needed to know as she shot across the room. But she was far faster than expected and stumbled, crashing against the floor. A screech echoed out behind her as her brain buzzed and she barely managed to dodge in time as a telson cut through the air, stabbing itself into the ground. The metal man was already a top her, reaching for her neck. But she cried out, and with a mixture of fury and fear swung her fist. It slammed against his armour, sending him flying as one of his claws grazed her face. He flew, smashing through several more tubes. She didn’t wait to see what happened, and turned tail, sprinting as hard as she could out into and through the hallways as alarms blared. She could hear distant shouts, and the low buzz returned to her brain at the sound of ever nearing screeches, but she continued running, her body on fire.
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The entire place was just a mess of corridors and rooms that didn’t seem to lead to an exit. She didn’t know how to get out, and it was clear her pursuers were catching. She couldn’t let that happen. She didn’t know what the hell that metal man was, but he’d tried to kill her. That was enough info. She slowed looking around anxiously. Dammit, she was just running in circles. She needed to think of a real way out of this. What would Sarah do? She froze. Sarah? Who the hell was Sarah? She stumbled, crashing to the ground as her mind shuddered, sending a resounding pain through her entire body. She writhed in pain, seizing violently for a few seconds before going limp.
“Ow. That fucking hurt” she gasped, laying on the floor. She forced herself up, her movements sluggish. Shit. Like this, she couldn’t keep running. She’d need to hide. She looked around then spotted an air vent. Bingo. Awkwardly, she crawled up the wall, her body still burning, before slipping into the air vent, and taking a well-deserved breather. Her head still spun as more memories flashed through her mind, none of them making sense. What the hell was going on?
A screech shook the hall and she jumped, glancing through the vent into the corridor. Shadows cast over the floor, steadily moving towards her. Crap. Now that she thought about it, this probably wasn’t that good a hiding spot. She turned and bolted, crawling as fast as she could. She snaked her way through the vents, climbing upwards at every opportunity before a vent gave way beneath her hands.
She burst out into open air and flailed, her brain buzzing. She crashed to the floor and cursed, jumping up quickly. She was in a dark open space. Thin streams of moonlight entered the room from the windows on the far side. She was above ground level, two maybe three stories up, and surrounded by forest, with city lights in the distance. She looked over the rest of the area, searching for an exit. She was in some kind of lab. Had she been here before? It felt familiar. Suddenly her sense buzzed and she dove to the side, cursing. One of the ceiling vents above her burst open and the metal man emerged, his suit a vibrant metallic green, that glinted nicely in the dim moonlight. Crashing to the ground, his large red eyes locked onto hers. She turned and ran, barrelling through the room as a screech echoed out behind her. She leapt over desks, benches and chairs as she sped towards the windows. Guess she’d found her way out. She just had to pray she’d survive the fall.
“STOP RUNNING!!” the metal man screamed, his voice raw, unnatural. The sound of smashing as tables, chairs, and lab equipment being blown to smithereens by the Scorpion echoed louder behind her. Scorpion? Where the hell had that name come from? Her sense buzzed and she ducked, a glass beaker narrowly missing her head. Shit. Questions could wait. Right now, it didn’t matter who was who. She continued running forwards, grabbing random beakers and chucking them behind her at the monster. She spared a glance back as one exploded on his head, but he carried on charging towards her, unperturbed. She turned back to the window. Shit. She wasn’t going to make it. Dammit, why didn’t she have her web-shooters?! Web-shooters? She cried out, stumbling as an ear-splitting headache numbed her entire body. She crashed to the ground before quickly scrambling up, as her sense buzzed. Her body instinctively leapt out the way as the Scorpion tried to slam her to the ground. He swung again and she dodged his blows with an almost practiced grace. But her body burned. Her muscles not used to such exercise. She stumbled, leaving an opening, and the Scorpion’s tail shot forward, stabbing at her. Even off balance she caught it, holding it back with both hands before he spun, sending her flying before smashing into a wall. She coughed, struggling to stand up before falling back to the ground. Everything hurt. A lot. She blinked back stars before feeling her almost lifeless body get lifted from the floor.
“Jesus, you lot are frail” Scorpion said, sighing. “Well, it works out better for me.”
Her sensed roared, warning her of incoming danger, and despite the pain she dodged, twisting herself from his grip. She fell to the ground and swept his legs out from under him, before leaping back to her feet and taking off. Scorpion screeched, but it was too late. She leapt forward, smashing through the glass and falling into open air. The sensation of falling was terrifying. In the darkness outside, for a moment it felt as if she’d jumped into an abyss. She fell and landed with a bang, rolling across another rooftop. Fear gone, she quickly hopped up and carried on running. Thank goodness the building were staggered. The building had been higher than she’d thought. If she’d fallen all the way she might’ve died. She continued sprinting across the rooftop, covering ground quickly, before leaping, flying through the air and landing in an area that looked like a car park, with a fence just beyond. She heard a loud crash behind her, and her sense buzzed as she dodged a lab bench. She glanced behind to see Scorpion standing in the window, on his haunches, but still on the highest floor. He must’ve been scared of heights.
“Fuck you!” she shouted as she flipped him off, then turned and rushed through the empty car park, leaping over the fence into the forest, and onwards. The air was cold and harsh, her legs burned and she knew nothing of what awaited her. But in that moment she was free.