Arc 3 All These Squares Chapter 11

Days passed in a blur. All bleeding together. With Neon Nurses’s urging I began something of a routine. I didn’t exactly mind and I certainly didn’t have anything better to do with my time. Upon waking I circled the room, doing laps, getting a good little bit of exercise in. The blood pumping to alleviate the grogginess of waking up. Then I lifted weights, not nice weights, they took those away after I broke the window. These ones were standard normi spect ones, fifty pound barbells and three hundred dispersed through several plates for a bench press.

That is it, all I was allowed to use. It wasn’t much, barely even stimulating my muscles. This meant I had to do quantity over quality adding more reps. Currently my max rep set had been four hundred, not because I was too tired, but because I got bored. My body sort of just regenerates this little bit of stress before it really becomes a problem. Assuming I was kept fed I could probably do thousands before getting tired physically. Well, maybe not I am unsure.

As such this wasn’t about building strength, this was stamina and endurance both mentally and physically. After all being kept captive like this was draining on my mind. Still with no real distractions like games or videos I didn’t really have anything to do but move my body. Vaguely I was getting a tingly familiar feeling from back in my baseball days when I worked out a lot to stay competitive.

I lifted my feet into the gouge I had grooved into the ceiling and started to pull myself up, it was something of a reverse pull up and sit up, forgot the name for it, but it burned the shit outa my abs so I knew it was working. I shifted left then right on my way up working my core deeper and deeper. Just focusing on breaking down the muscles so they can grow back bigger and stronger. After the hundredth or so I was feeling a little light headed from the up and down motion of my head pulling up to the ceiling and the blood pooling in my brain.

I drooped back down landing like a cat on all fours. Rolling my neck I cracked it a few times and lined up against the back wall where I had been punching it, more or less using it like a punching bag. They had given or rather Neon Nurse had gotten me a few, but they broke after a few punches, they were just standard issue ones. For me, well it was better just to punch the wall. I gripped the barbells doing a little shadow boxing, left then right, a sneaky hook, and an uppercut. Getting into a little rotation ending with an alternating kick.

I hate to admit it but Molotov knew her shit when it came to fighting and thankfully some of that had rubbed off on me. Was I actually thankful to her? No. Fuck that little menace. I pictured that evil little face cocking back my arm and slamming it down into the wall so hard my wrist broke and twisted. I winced, cracking it back into place, but I didn’t stop punching.

The grinding of flesh and muscle and tendon and carapace there was something satisfying about it, past the pain, that made me forget the rest of world. Made me forget how angry I was. Or maybe it simply let me let it out. I punched harder. The wrist snapped louder, pain dulled deeper. Didn’t even feel that. The scraping of metal against my carapace got louder with each thud and spurt of yellow blood staining that spot on the wall.

I blinked having zoned in too deep. I lifted my arms noticing that they were stumps. My hands had broken off at some point, laying on the floor. The wall gouged by my serrated bone where I had stabbed and jabbed it. Still, the wall held up. This shit was strong. My smaller arms scooped up my hands, almost putting the left on the right by accident before reattaching them properly. Holding them in place as they healed and I started to get feeling in the fingers again.

While I waited for that I did some leg lifts. Shifting my legs up, stretching so that they came all the way back and touched the ground behind my head for each rep. I certainly was flexible. I mean the splits were nothing I can do those all day. There was something relaxing about grinding the body down in repetitive motions that just it felt right. Might just be the endorphins from working out or might be something else. Who knows all I know is that I would be losing my damned mind if I wasn’t working out.

Despite saying that, I still felt my doubts growing, festering. Every day that passed, the urge to break free grew a little bit more. Stemmed only by Neon Nurse keeping me company. If she wasn’t here I would have broken out days ago. At this point most of my will power was being spent making excuses to stay this course and stick to being a hero. That was the goal after all, I just needed to make it through this and then everything would open up and get better. My eyes linger on the vent in the back corner. It was the weak point in the room. It was just there, taunting me with that little fan in there rattling away.

I got on the bench press again doing a few extra reps to take my mind off of things. I took a deep breath tossing the bar to the side with a denting smash as it hit the wall. I need to calm down. The room was familiar now, but that didn’t mean that I liked it. The white walls and glaring light got on my nerves. I wasn’t sure where all the cameras were at, but I knew they were all over. My thoughts darkened yet again.

That is it bitch, work that ass. Get them thighs thick I want to crush somebody’s skull like a watermelon. Hot girl summer!

Shut it Sub, I am not in the mood. First of all that is a chest work out.

You are never in the mood you fucking cunt. You don’t even strangle me when we are fucking anymore where has the passion gone? Come on loosen up a little being all moody won’t help.

You shut your whore mouth. We would have been out of here already if it wasn’t for you.

Oh talk dirty to me. Oi don’t be blaming me, I didn’t make you throw that weight through the window.

Maybe not but you certainly didn’t help that night, you made it worse.

Sure… I am sure you would have been fine suppressing and blocking out Her influence.

I grumbled ignoring Sub. I flexed my clawed finger digging a scratch into the wall, not enough to get through it, thems was some thick walls, just enough to mar the paint with a distinct line. I had started this on the first day of the routine, more or less to keep track of how many days and well just to spite the Hero League I suppose.

I stared at the lines counting them, each little group was in fives, fours rather with a fifth across the middle. Wait… I counted again. Fifteen. It had already been fifteen damned days since I started the routine. That plus the eight means it had been twenty three days since the extension. I slammed my head against the wall to make sure it wasn’t a dream, they had been weird lately. Certainly not a dream. A ringing and pounded filled my head.

I am not getting out of here am I?

Neon Nurse turned from her desk, seeing my altered behavior. “Something wrong?”

I held my head, “Everything. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

She stood, concerned, her head tilting as it usually did as she questioned something. “Are you ok?”

“No.” I snarled, “I have been good, I want out. I haven’t hurt nobody, haven’t even talked to anybody but you. What the hell do they want from me?”

She seemed apologetic, contemplating for a little bit before something seemed to cross her mind, before unbuttoning her nurse outfit letting her boobs pop out. She motioned with her hands as though presenting them on a platter. “Is there something I can do? Breasts? Boobs? Touch boobs? Would that calm you?”

I paused for a moment, almost distracted by her smooth robo tits. I shook my head, slapping down Sub before she got any ideas. Firmly I put a hand out pushing her away as I looked to the side adamantly, “I don’t want your fake boobs I want my cuddly pet and to get the fuck out of this damned room. I am not falling for it. Not this time.”

It didn’t phase her as she pressed her chest into the hand keeping her back, “Are you sure? I hear that it is both calming and stimulating for organics? Are my perimeters wrong?”

Despite myself I did give a little squeeze… they were fucking soft. I slapped myself hitting Sub back down into the lewd wasp gutter that she tried to crawl out of. Finally I wrestled control of bottom righty back and withdrew my hand from her mounds. I turned, crossing my arms as I stared at the wall.

“Vesper I am concerned about your health. Your function has been deteriorating in captivity. Please tell me how I can aid you.”

I grumbled, she wasn’t listening to me. “I told you.” I snarled, as my hands gripped her shoulders and I shook her. “I. Want. Out.”

“I would like nothing more, but that is not under my authority to do. Is there any other way I can help you? I am only trying to be of service to you.” She stated, buttoning up her uniform.

“Where is my fluffy little angel? Give me back my pet!” I gripped her on the shoulders, my claws digging through the hard metal woven cloth that covered her into that fake flesh.

“Vesper, Dr. Arbor is still holding on to Fluffles for you.”

“Why can’t I have my pet?”

“Well during testing she found that the pheromones were altered in an undesirable way.”

I paused, “Huh? Undesirable?”

She nodded, her eyes glowing as they usually did when she delved into something that she found interesting. “Indeed it seems that creature was producing a mutated scent that closely mimiced yours. It happens rather often in nature with parasitic species. Often the host species will be tricked into taking care of the offspring of the other. Though that would be the benign case, in a destructive case it could remove competitors from the nest or even inject eggs into the host using them as an incubator. It is odd that a moth would be trying to do that to a wasp though, typically it is the other way around.”

That got my full attention, “Wait you saying Fluffles was trying to take me to pound town and knock me up?”

She contemplated that, “I am unsure of the physiology and anatomical design, I cannot say exactly what that creature’s intentions were, but we can infer from its behavior that it did see you as either a potential mate, a protector, or a host for its brood, or one of its own species. In that regard the experiment could be considered a success, the intention was to make a pet that loved you.”

I deflated a little bit. “I don’t want that kind of love. I knew there was something wrong with it. I should have know what with Dr. Arbor’s track record.”

Neon Nurse nodded, “Don’t worry, Dr. Arbor will fix it one way or another and you will get your pet back.”

My head swam for a moment with thoughts of that fluffy squishy moth, before they recentered on my current predicament. “Well since you can’t help with that. Get me. Out.” I growled.

“Vesper, getting agitated at me won’t help you.” She replied solemnly with that fake face, just as helpless as I was.

I crossed my arms looking away from her for probably the fourth or fifth time today. “I don’t care. Go talk to them again or something. I don’t care if I gotta wear a shock collar or something, just get me the fuck out of here. I will let you probe me, I don’t care at this point anything is better than this limbo. Hell Molotov’s torture wasn’t even this bad cause I had a proper outlet for my aggression and clear understanding of what was going on. Here though it is dragging on and is muddled.”

She pat me on the head, “Vesper even without that incentive I have been advocating for your release. Though a shock collar… that might just work, the main reason that Ring Master has been refusing is that there hasn’t been much in the way of assurances that you are controllable or at the very least not a loose canon. I shall go once again to advocate for your release.”

She turned and left through the air locked entrance. Leaving me alone with the gawking gallery of scientists that were observing through the glass. My eyes twitched, there were more of them again. It seemed like every five days the team got more members. Now there was a good twenty of them on staff at any given time.

“It seems her behavior patterns have been disrupted this morning.” Said the glasses guy leading the team as he and the rest simply stood there writing everything I did down. “Increased aggression noted.”

I flipped them the bird, “Fuck you. If this glass wasn’t in between us I would show you some increased aggression.”

“Subject V 1 is making threats again.”

“Oh that is a shame. I think we will need to extend the confinement time.” Casually said Dreamer with that condescending smirk on her face. “Unless of course you open up that little mind of yours and let me have a good long look in there and then all of this will stop. It is for your own good really, I mean I can help you with your trauma, your fears, any of those little worries in that odd head of yours.”

“Why do you hate me so much? I haven’t even done anything to you?” I asked, pointing at Dreamer.

That slutty magician was sassing me again. “Hate you? I don’t hate you. You are a blip on my radar if you were not connected in some way to much graver threats, I wouldn’t even give you moment of my time. I will have you know it is very valuable and you are squandering it. Though I will admit I find your resistance to all this, annoying, wasteful and meaningless. You are just delaying the inevitable.”

I grumbled hands on my hips, “Pretty sure only evil people deal in absolutes. Don’t you villain monologue at me you stuck up bitch. I thought you were supposed to be a hero.”

She tutted, wagging her finger at me, clearly offended, “You are actively preventing me from being able to use my power to help you. You have two options, either let me in that head, or I am going to pull some strings and get you shipped to a much worse place than this for the protection of the city.”

I puffed up a little, looming over her by a good foot through the glass. “Oh threatening me huh. I don’t know why exactly but you give me nothing but bad vibes. You fucking touch me and I am going to tear your arms off and stuff them down your throat.”

“Yes, yes you villains and your threats. I have heard that sort of thing countless times. It means I got under your skin, struck a nerve. I know you are a monster deep down.”

“Who is the real monster here? You are torturing me.”

“You think being fed and housed is torture? I assure you, there are far worse ways of confinement than this. Here you are basically on vacation. I don’t think you appreciate how good you have it here. If I had my way you certainly wouldn’t be here, you would already be in the interrogation room of the Institute for the Villainously Insane.”

“Pretty sure I would have to do something really bad to go there. Clearly this is a waste of time for all of us, so why don’t you just let me out and I will leave you alone, you leave me alone and both of us can do much better things with our time than this.”

She turned to the side a little, “I can’t do that. It is my responsibility to make sure that there is no suspicion of recruits. It makes all of us look bad when a hero goes rogue. I need to know you won’t do that and you have valuable tactical information about the varied local villains in your brain.”

I thought on that, I mean she wasn’t wrong, those were valid concerns. “You could just ask me questions and I will answer to the best of abilities. I mean I have no love for the villains, I am in Molotov’s shit list after what happened. They can go fuck themselves.”

She sighed, “If only it were that easy. Fine, you want questions. Where is Molotov’s Lair?”

“In the Warehouse District, not entirely sure exactly where but it was kind of an abandoned area, looked a little run down. That might be Dr. Tesla’s place though I think that was his lair.”

“See your info is unreliable, I need to see it directly for any context clues or just to get better, clearer picture. Do you remember the warehouse number? Or land marks?”

I thought on that. “I feel like I saw the orange groves somewhat close by when I escaped. I wasn’t exactly looking for specifics I was getting the hell out of there.”

“Orange groves… hmm that does narrow it down a little bit actually. Anything else?”

I shook my head I was coming up blank. “I feel like there was a crane and it was north of the train tracks.”

She nodded slowly, “We can work with that, roughly triangulates the search.”

“See, you just had to ask I am more than willing to answer most questions.”

“It will take some verification, but that should be useful. It is good to know where the hornet nest is to not provoke it.”

“Oh not going to pick a fight with Molotov?”

“Not until we have back up. Besides, depending on what she has planned it, it might be a non issue. Kraken often moves around and doesn’t tend to stay in place for long. Sometimes they just swoop in and scoop up the local villains to be fodder for their bigger operations.”

“Good that bitch is strong, no offense but I don’t think the local League can handle her.”

Dreamer sighed again, almost sounding exhausted, “Admittedly we can’t. The league is stretched a bit thin and there are pressing matters all over the globe so a potential threat is not enough to warrant a mobilization of the stronger forces. In a few months time, other forces should be available to aid us so hopefully nothing too crazy happens before then. In the mean time, we will make due.”

“See why wouldn’t you want me on the team? I can help.”

She squinted at me, “I don’t trust you. You could flip on us. I know you coming here was to be Molotov’s mole.”

“If I was going to join them I would have went with them before. Gonna be real with you, you guys have been treating me worse than she did.”

“I think you are misremembering, I saw what she was doing to you and it was far worse than how you are being treated now. You might be forgetting things due a trauma response.”

I thought on that, she did have a point. My brain did tend to block out bad memories or at least suppress them. Thinking about it that actually was a bit concerning. I mean what have I already forgotten or suppressed that hurt me?

“Well you guys are more of a psychological torture than Molotov, she was mostly physical with bit of mind games. Still neither is good. I mean the more you abuse me the less likely I am to give you what you want simply out of spite.”

“And if you had simply complied none of this would have happened. It is your own fault. I have other appointments so I suppose I will allow you to marinate in your own thoughts for today. The sooner you let me see the sooner you get out.”

“We just keep going in circles don’t we?”

“It seems we are both rather stubborn. But eventually you will break, they all do and this little bout of insanity will end and then the healing can begin.” She commented off handedly before leaving.

Insanity huh. I stared up at the ceiling seeing all the square shaped panels. I glanced at the floor seeing the same pattern. As my eyes shifted around the room tracing my surroundings. All these squares… make a circle. That was an odd thought, but it was certainly true. I did a bit of a double take, realizing for the first time in the almost two months I had been confined in this room that it was a circle and not a square.

I stood walking along the wall with my hand on it. Looking at it, it was hard to see the curve, but feeling it made it much more obvious. That meant that my corner was not a corner at all. Sure enough it, like the rest room was sloped. An uncanny feeling descended over me. As though every thing I knew was wrong. This was unsettling. It had not bothered me when I didn’t see it, but now, I couldn’t unsee it. I shivered, feeling more eyes than usual upon me. An existential dread bubbled from my depths. My instincts screaming to escape to flee.

Why was it a circle?

Was the structure actually like a dome?

Each of those squares I started to realize was a one way mirror of sorts. My blood ran cold as I shuddered, this, this wasn’t the same room that I had started in. The things were the same, but the structure was different. The uncanny valley made the little hairs on my carapace stand up straight. Where is this place? When was Neon Nurse coming back? I am starting to think I realized something that I shouldn’t have.

Now that I knew there was no corner, no space hidden, I dragged my bed into the center of the room coiling in my blanket as I sat rocking in place. The wrongness of this place just seemed to grow and grow with every passing thought.

All these squares make a circle.