Captivity. Part Two.

(Part One)

Kidnappings are something that happens too often, a sad part of reality really, but when said thing keeps happening again and again in a short span of time… people tend to notice. At least I did, thinking I could do some good and find out what was going on.

It’s how I ended up here.

It’s been two weeks, according to Legate at least, guy helps me keep track of time and that helps in not trying to go insane while waiting, doing nothing but sit and sleep as these guys keep me on a table and do whatever they please with us.

At the end of the first week we got a new neighbor, a hero that goes by Concussion or something, guy refuses to just sit down and keeps screaming and hitting the bars. He fails to realize that makes the guys in charge use the sleep gas so that he “calms down” and because both Legate and I are sitting right next we end up inhaling that too, so forgive me if I’m angry at him or something.

I thought he would eventually learn we can’t really do anything from here but we’ve been all put to sleep at least five times and he Still. Keeps. Doing it.

Hey he’s doing it again! Why do we get the rowdy guy as a neighbor? Why don’t they put him two cells apart!? Maybe that way the gas dissipates before it reaches us or something.

“You listening to me!? I’m going to get out of here and when I do I’m going to put my foot so far up your ass-” aaaand there he goes…

I stopped trying talk him down a couple of sleeps ago and Legate, for his part, can’t even get a word in before this guy condemns him for being evil and me, by extension, because I haven’t kicked his ass or tried to, despite the fact that’s physically impossible in our current situation.

I think he doesn’t get the part where we can’t physically do anything aside from running circles in the cells.

Ah. There’s the now familiar sound of the gas leaking into the cells.

At first, the smoke makes him angrier, but eventually he goes down first because screaming and kicking so much makes him breathe the gas faster. Again, since he’s close to my cell I end up breathing it too and fall asleep shortly after.

Hope he actually shuts up for good next time.

--

Four weeks later and he’s still screaming, although he calms down halfway through his tantrums now so we don’t get as much nap time as before.

He finally started speaking to us – well, more like to me, he still looks at Legate like he’s the devil incarnate – we talked for a while, ended up sharing what our powers do. Concussion’s power is “super resistance”, as in being able to get hit or shot and not be worse for wear, it doesn’t help him fight back but does wonders to keep him alive, which is probably why he’s so stubborn, now that I think about it.

Also learned that his real name is Axton.

He also told us about what the rest of the city is doing at this point.

“Everyone knows about the kidnappings by now, they were rumors before but now that there are as many corpses as missing people…” He stops there, leaving that statement hanging for us to process

“Supers and Police kept this hidden, for a while. Didn’t want to scare the masses, but eventually it escalated and now every single super out there is in full alert looking for answers.”

It was reassuring to know they were still looking, a part of me had given up on thinking they’ll get here.

“So they are coming…” Is what comes from Legate, hand on his chin. “Just like I had estimated. It’s only a matter of time.”

Axton snorts from his cell “Yeah, right. Just as planned” He tries to imitate Legate’s voice “Look at me I’m the smartest guy ‘round! I’m so smart I got caught by the guys that got everyone else!”

Legate simply narrows his eyes at Axton.

“If you’re so smart anyways, why don’t you come up with a plan to get us out?” Challenges Axton.

The man sitting on the cells across from ours simply closes his eyes before speaking.

“I’ll admit it wasn’t my finest hour, I simply miscalculated.” He sighs “They had found a way to weaken me. My one weakness”

“…What is it?” asks Axton, moving slowly towards Legate’s cell - at least as much as he could - to hear him better.

The man hesitates for a moment, before answering “Salt.”

…What?

Legate sighs again, probably thinking how to explain his predicament “In small amounts salt does nothing, but as I was fighting against my captors I was thrown into a establishment, the fall broken by several bags of salt, which weakened my powers immensely, leaving me at their mercy”

We fall into silence after that, both Axton and me staring in shock at Legate, although for different reasons.

While Axton starts laughing at the idea of someone so strong, so powerful, falling to a condiment I just think.

One of the biggest and strongest metahumans in the world has a weakness? To Salt of all things?

This is a world of metahumans and people with bizarre and fascinating superpowers, of which there are several with weaknesses to common things, I’ve even meet people that are weak to rabbits, as in rabbits sap her powers or something.

But for this guy…? I don’t believe it.

There’s something about him, something about this whole situation that is just too… stupid to believe.

And while I’m busy thinking to myself, I see Legate look at me once again. As I narrow my eyes at him, as if trying to speak to him with my eyes, I see the man smirk knowingly at me.

He’s lying. He didn’t lose anything or lose to anyone.

…But why? Why lie to us? What’s the point?

As I process all of the different possibilities and theories running through my head, I hear the familiar sound of the sleep gas pouring in to the room, probably to silence Axton again, or maybe they want to start the tests again. I hear how Axton stops laughing and swears as he falls asleep and see how Legate simply smiles at me from his cell.

But just before I lose consciousness, I swear I can see the man mouth something to me.

All in due time.

…

…

This time, when they get me to a table and start working on me, it feels different. It’s not like the other times, where I woke up in the middle of it and stayed awake until the end or the ones where I slept through.

This time my consciousness is fleeting. All I see is blurry, but that doesn’t mean I can’t feel.

The first few times I “wake up” I feel as though everything is heavy, I can’t really feel anything anymore. This keeps going on for a while, the voices of the “scientists” sound distorted in my head.

After that’s over, I feel in the clouds, as if my body was flying. I can hear myself breath, my heart beat, but I can’t hear any voices anymore, nor see anything at all, like if my eyes were welded shut.

That feeling stays for a short amount of time, before it’s completely replaced with pain.

Harsh, intense pain, like nothing I’ve ever felt before. My entire body felt like if it was going to be ripped apart. My body feels like… like…

Like if I was burning alive.

A feeling long forgotten, since the first day I got my powers and my resistance to fire increased. Like a blast from the past, this feeling washing over my body is as if I was being burnt completely, as if my whole body was washed with fire and I didn’t have my resistances to it.

It reaches a crescendo, the pain overwhelming me and, for a split second, I feel like my body is truly coming apart.

It’s on that same second that I “wake up".  I open my eyes, but all I see is fire. I open my mouth to scream, but all that enters is fire.

My entire being burns and I shortly pass out again.

…

…

The next time I wake up, I can’t control my flames anymore.