Sean batted his eyes as he came to. A bright white light blasted him head on, blinding him. His lips cracked when he scrunched his face in discomfort. They were drier than he could ever remember. His arms tensed as he went to scrub the crust from his eyes

He felt tension across every bit of his body. His arms refused to rise, and his legs were locked in place like they were clamped in a vice grip. Every little adjustment he made was answered with another tight constraint.

His eyes slowly began to adjust to the bright light, only to be welcomed with a confusing sight. There were straps across every single part of his body. It was clear they were made to restrict any movement he could try.

The light made it impossible to see what his surroundings looked like as it seemed to grow brighter just as he was growing used to it.

His hands tensed around the cushions on the armrests as a sense of claustrophobia welled up inside of him. He jerked back as hard as he could and felt the straps easily fight his struggle off.

The distinct sound of footsteps broke through his confusion. His flailing intensified. He had no idea what was happening or why he was so thoroughly restrained but terror had begun to leak into his heart. He couldn't imagine a single positive scenario that would require such things.

The steps grew closer and closer. His heart pounded away in fear.

“What- who’s there?”

The footsteps halted for a moment only for them to speed up. His chest felt ready to explode as they took on a sharper click of heels.

“Oh! You’re awake! Fantastic! I was so so so so worried!” The flamboyant voice rang out in his ear.

Sean turned his head ever so slightly in a bid to get the light from his face only to press a series of cool straps into his neck and forehead.

“We can’t have that.” The source of the blindness craned backwards, away from his eyes. The room slowly lightened up as he adjusted to the new darkness.

“That should be better.” The newcomer's figure entered his line of sight with the bright light casting around him.

The man stood at average height, shorter than Sean, had olive skin without a single blemish, and long black hair that trailed far out of his limited vision. Angelic but tainted by something Sean was unable to out.

“Soooo? First impressions?” The man posed several times, waiting for a reaction.

“What?” He struggled to understand what was going on. He had been conscious for less than five minutes and a strange figure had come out of nowhere to confuse him.

“What do you think? Too much of anything? Looking good? What?” The mystery man hadn’t stopped posing for Sean.

“You…” They stopped moving and turned to look at him directly. “Your skin is immaculate.”

There was a single moment of silence as the person digested the comment before a single clap rang out, causing Sean to jump in his own skin.

“Bitch, thank you so much. I spent so much time grafting this shit on, it isn’t even funny. I had to get some east Asian kid to let me take some samples and I have to say that I think the results really do speak for themselves.”

They rubbed their cheeks like it was the most wonderful feeling they had ever experienced.

“That's… nice. Who are you?” He asked with confusion readily apparent.

They whipped their head in his direction with all of the dramatic flair they could achieve with the ominous backlighting.

“Honey, almost no one asks for my name. Thank you. You are heard.” They placed their hand on his arm like the moment was meant to be touching before turning with a flourish, flipping their hair into the air and striking a new pose.

“I am Drake. The Body Splicer. You might have heard of me before.”

They turned their intense gaze in Sean's direction, waiting for a reaction. He was visibly stunned. An awkward silence overtook the room.

“What? Say something! You're making me nervous.” Drake couldn’t take it any longer, their excitement boiling over.

Sean’s eyes drifted from the strange man, looking at other parts of the room. The walls were a sterile gray, devoid of anything of note. A small metal tray sat to his side with a variety of tools that he couldn’t even begin to place. The only source of light he could see was the blindingly bright bulb that had been pulled from his face.

He turned to look at Drake again.

“Sorry, I don’t think I've heard your name before.” The man’s face took on a deadly serious expression. The joy and life that had been present moments before had drained from him like blood from a stab victim. “Maybe you could tell me some of the stuff you’ve done before?”

The stomach churning look dissipated as quickly as it arrived.

“Thank you for asking. I created the first few designer babies for a couple celebrities you might have heard about in the news. Some of my finest work if you ask me. Powered, all of them. Made most of the major headlines.”

He was about to answer truthfully when better judgment took hold.

“Yeah, I might have heard something about that. Ummmm, so what’s up with all of the restraints?” He looked down to the straps covering every bit of his body.

Drake slinked forward before stopping near one of the armrests. He crouched down and put his head into his palms, staring up at Sean with a dreamy expression.

“Well, I can’t have you freaking out and breaking free. Never know what powers some of my abductees might have. Made that mistake once before, never again.”

He hopped back up to his feet and stretched his arms to the sky.

“I was expecting a jail cell more than a restraint chair to be honest.”

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Drake’s face turned upwards with a smile.

“Maybe that would make sense if you were at the Hero Union, but we are currently in my own personal lab. Their stupid little club is only good for stealing from in my opinion, but hey, what do I know? I’m just a genius powered that escaped their custody a dozen times.”

Sean’s blood ran cold.

“Then why did you kidnap me?” The man cracked a warped smile.

“Honey, you aren’t that special. I just heard they were doing a big bust and just knew there would be some quality materials without a single real guard. Truthfully, the only reason we are even talking is because the other bodies are complete assholes or still unconscious.”

Drake walked around the chair and disappeared from the room with only fading footsteps left in his wake.

‘Is this worse than being in jail?’

He still wasn’t truly certain about what was going on. He couldn’t move a single part of his body and the fear of the unknown was beginning to come on stronger than ever.

A blood curdling scream erupted in the distance. It echoed for what felt like an eternity before finally fading to obscurity.

‘Oh shit.’

He was confident now. He didn’t need to know what was going on or what was even happening, he just needed to get out. It was do or die.

His arms flexed as a familiar strength returned to him. The muscles bulged against the straps. He could hear the stitches stretching but refused to break. His nails ripped at the cushioned armrests in frustration.

The familiar footsteps returned, getting closer and closer by the second. Drake's figure entered his vision. In his absence he had donned a white lab coat with a black belt around his waist to hug his thin figure.

“Sorry about the racket. I forgot the anesthesia. Don’t worry your pretty little head. I won't forget it with you.”

He pulled a rubber tube from his pocket and tied it around Sean’s arm with a nice bow to top it off.

“Hey, Drake, please don’t do this. I am sure you have a lot of other people here. There were tons of others in the transport. I am sure you could work on them first. Perfect whatever you are doing. Right?” His hopeful words cause the scientist to pause.

“Hmm, I guess I should reward the compliments. They did cause a little jump in the old pacemaker.”

He pushed the needle into the crook of Sean’s arm.

“I guess I’ll get to you last. For now, I need you to relax. I am just drawing blood. Seeing what you could be good for.” The syringe quickly filled with the red liquid.

“And we are done for now. I should mention. There were much fewer prisoners than I wanted. A lot of them died in the ambush. My little pet didn’t have very good instructions so it shot some as they were fleeing the crash.” He undid the rubber and wiped a dot of blood from his arm.

“I am so glad your transport didn’t open until I got there. That hot tattooed guy and the hispanic hot head are going to be tier one materials. Well, that is if i can shut that fuckers mouth up for longer than 2 minutes. ”

He began walking away, leaving Sean in a state of disbelief.

‘The Hero Union got ambushed by him? How is that even possible?’ He swallowed a wad of spit that got caught in his throat. ‘Holly shit.’

The full gravity of the situation was setting in.

‘If the Hero Union even did arrive, they wouldn’t be coming to save them, they would be coming to kill this crazy bastard!’

There were no other options. He had to get out. His strength had failed him. His psychic powers would be useless. There weren’t any other options available to him. He was trapped due to his own mediocrity.

A scream ripped through the halls followed by an innocent oopsie in the scientist's flamboyant tone. Sean’s heart quickened. There was no way for him to know how long he had. Footsteps picked up behind him.

His hands tore into the armrest with nothing else to do in his state of complete futility. Just as they were nearing him, they turned away. The breath he had been holding slipped from his lungs.

It went on like this for what felt like hours. Tension never fully left him as he waited for either the heroes to come blasting in and defeat the psycho or for Drake to walk in with a syringe full of anesthetics for him to drift off and never wake up.

The footsteps picked up once more, quickening Sean's heart. Drake's face popped around the side of the chair with a fresh splatter of blood near the collar of his coat.

“Hey man, sorry it took so long. You have really interesting blood and my machines struggled to understand it. You might be the best material here. Really glad I kept you for last. Almost everyone else has been knocked out in preparation for the surgerys. Just you and me for now.”

He felt for his lab coat pockets only for the smile to drop. He rummaged through them before finally giving up in a huff.

“Jeez. I can be so air headed at times. Silly old me. I will be back in a few minutes. Sit tight. Teehee.”

His time was near, but he couldn't just give up. He wasn’t going to die willingly. His arm tensed under the constraints. He thrashed harder than ever before despite the futility. The chair creaked against his actions but refused to let him go free.

Footsteps returned. It had only been a few seconds since Drake had left and he was already coming back. Sean’s heart pounded heavily within his chest. He was done for.

The sloshing of blood filled his ears as everything seemed to slow down. Tension rose within his heart as he waited for the freak to return with every moment ticking by growing more tense than the last.

The click of heels on concrete slowly began to dampen. At some point, the footsteps had faded from his senses. His whole body relaxed for a moment before the struggle retook hold of his body. He looked at his hands and blanked.

They were free. The straps were frayed and shredded to pieces. A dim red glow encompassed his flesh.

He recognized it immediately.

The villain came to mind. The red glow matched his memories perfectly. The dream was still in the back of his mind, but the matters at hand had pushed it to the side in favor of the freak that planned to experiment on him.

A small smile crossed his face. He destroyed all of the straps he could reach and only had the restraints below his knees and over his biceps left. The red light seemed to tear apart the material with ease while leaving his flesh perfectly intact.

The holes in his clothes were a worthy sacrifice for freedom.

With his range of motion greatly enhanced, he slowly worked his arms free before reaching down to his legs and destroying the remaining straps. The expression of tasting freedom felt far more real than he was ever expecting to experience.

He finally was able to see around the rest of the room. A variety of monitors sat behind the chair. Lines darted up and down, seemingly at random while others showed cameras pointing off into long tunnels that had a strangely familiar air about them. Small channels followed along brightly lit walkways.

Sean looked away from the screens. He couldn’t spend any longer investigating the creepy room. He had to move.

The light in his hands slowly died down as he finished investigating the place.

He turned towards the exit and nearly scattered the tray of surgical tools onto the floor in his eagerness to leave. His heart froze and hands flashed to the metal pan to stop it before it could clatter to the ground.

The tools tumbled on the small rubber mat that lined the object, dampening the noise.

A quiet sigh left his lips. The tray found its original home with two of the most useful implements missing.

Sean walked to the only exit in the room. The same doorway that Drake utilized in his visits. In one hand, a long, hooked scalpel was gripped so tightly that his knuckles turned white while the other loosely held a pair of bone cutting forceps. His heart pounded as he grew enough courage to take the first steps to freedom.

He peaked around the edge of the exit, peering down the short hallway with nearly a dozen other doorways. The familiar footsteps of his captor were nowhere to be heard as he slinked down the side of the corridor, stopping as he hit the first opening.

He slowly looked into the room before ducking back immediately. His stomach curled around itself as the images replayed once more, thoroughly infesting his mind. Bile began rising in his throat. The acrid taste of throw-up hit his tongue but he refused to let it out.

He swallowed it back down. The entrance opposite of the one he was avoiding like the plague was completely unobstructed. He slowly entered the room and took note of the wall that was filled with the same monitors as his.

The man sitting in the chair was instantly recognizable thanks to his easily identifiable clothes. The tracksuit embroidered with a yellow and black dragon belonged to one of the men that had entered the warehouse to take up guard duty not long after him and Devon had arrived.

His eyes were tightly shut and small drops of perspiration fell down his forehead. It was clear the man was experiencing intense discomfort as he randomly twitched like he was having an intense nightmare.

Sean took the forceps and began cutting at the straps before realizing it would take far too long. He only had so much time before Drake would return and he would only be able to carry one unconscious body.

‘Sorry.’

All he could do was apologize.