“Goodnight, Bell. I guess I’ll call you next week.”
And with that, the door to my living quarters slammed shut, leaving me to drown in the silence around me. It was a welcome peace that would surely be short lived. I knew that it soon enough, my father would call for me and Cole to head out on another mission – to locate another hard-drive, to keep watch over the world that we had been excluded from – and I would have had no choice but to follow his orders.
Because that was my life, and that was the world that I lived in.
I was a project, a product, a mission that had never been designed to have a sense of self-identity.
B
ack at the Horde facility...
It was pretty sad that it had taken being tricked into breaking into a Horde facility to figure out what the hard-drives had contained, but hey, at least I finally knew. That was a plus. Er, that was the only plus, really.
Because after being told what the hard-drives had contained, the Horde had managed to capture both Cole and myself. And I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to escape.
“You just had to play hero, didn’t you?” Cole groaned, trying to break the heavy cuffs binding his wrists. The downside to the Horde having one of the hard-drives in their possession? Other than having full access to the research conducted at Bilson Corporations? The downside was that they knew every bit of information about us.
They knew our strengths, our weaknesses. They knew our fighting patterns and what abilities we had. They knew every single detail about us, and we hardly knew a thing about them.
“In my defense, I didn’t think there would be this many of the freaks inside,” I countered. “And besides, in a strange way, I actually prefer dealing with them to dealing with my father.”
“You’re insane, Bell. You know this, right?”
I shrugged and leaned against the wall. I was worried, sure, but I’d had enough practice to know that panicking wouldn’t do a damn thing to make the situation any better.
“I’m well aware of this, although I’m quite surprised that you’re just now realizing this. I mean, you’ve only been following me around for how many years now?”
“How about instead of joking, we try and figure out a way to get out of here?”
I turned to look at Cole, taking note of the frustration that lined his face, and arched a brow in surprise. “You should know better than to think I’m not already working on that.”
My natural response was to be a sarcastic ass. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t alert and that I hadn't made it a point to study my captors. My eyes had been following the Horde members since they’d thrown us inside of an oversized cage, eager to uncover some sort of pattern.
That was the most important thing I’d learned during my training when I was younger – that, we as people, had a tendency to develop patterns without even realizing it. We were predictable beings, and apparently I’d been no different.
I
really needed to think before I acted
, I reminded myself, only to have Cole break out into laughter beside me. “I can agree with that,” he answered.
“Oh, shush.”
“Assuming we get out of here, your father’s going to have my head.”
“I highly doubt that,” I countered. The fact of the matter was that my father had favored Cole. If he were to have anyone’s head, it would have been mine for getting Cole into trouble. “You know very well that you’re his golden child. When I get us out of here – and I do mean
when
, not
if
– he’s never going to let me live this down.”
In fact, I was willing to bet he was going to make it a point to keep his eyes locked on me more so than usual; which, as much as I wanted to blame Cole, was entirely my fault.
I could have turned around and left when Cole told me to. But I allowed my stubbornness to lead me directly into a trap, just as the Horde had hoped. Yeah, even I had my what-the-hell-were-you-thinking moments.
“What about Maggie?”
“What about her?” I asked curiously.
“You’re crazy if you don’t think she’ll be hounding you for the next couple of months – at least – after this stunt.”
“It’s not like that, Cole, and you know it.”
He let out an amused laughed. “It may not be like that for you, but it certainly is for her, Bell.”
Knowing where he was headed, I decided to change topics. The last thing I wanted to do was receive relationship advice regarding a non-existing relationship, especially from Cole.
“Do you know what I think is more interesting?” I started, careful not to meet Cole’s stare. “How there are so many hard-drives out in the world with the research from Bilson Corporations.”
Cole fell back against the wall beside me, the tension in his shoulders seeming to fade away almost immediately.
Having spent much of my life with Cole by my side, I’d come to know him well enough to tell how he was feeling without him having to say a word. Cole had, other than Gwen, probably been the only person to truly know me and not just the cold-hearted girl I presented to the rest of the world. He was a good guy, and I knew that I gave him far too much shit at times, especially considering he had only done as ordered by my father.
I knew that I should have been easier on him. But giving him a hard time made it easier for me to maintain some distance between us. Like with Maggie, I’d made it a point to not get too attached because attachment only made it harder to let go. And as a Super, death was a constant companion.
I knew the pain that loss brought with it, and I knew that it was a distraction I could not afford.
Emotions could get someone killed
, I reminded myself. All it would take was one moment of weakness, and that would be enough to end it all.
I closed my eyes for a brief moment, trying my best to collect my thoughts. I had a plan, not a very good one, but it was still a plan and that was better than waiting to be tortured by the Horde.
The plus side to having a sidekick that could read minds? It made it easier to conjure up a plan without my opponent having a clue. Er, at least, I hoped he wouldn’t be able to tell.
I’m going to try and pry more information out of him, as soon as there’s an opening, I need you to run. Do you understand me?
“Do you have a damn death wish?” he whispered, leaning in closer towards me. I shrugged him off. I needed to remain calm to ensure the Horde bought my emotionless act. If they knew just how much I cared about Cole and his safety, they would have made it a point to go after him first. “Don’t think I’m not going to use that against you once we get out of here,” he commented.
I rolled my eyes. “You were only supposed to listen to the first part.”
A friendly grin spread upon his lips, and he pressed his shoulder against mine gently. “Let’s get this show on the road then, shall we?”
“Agreed.”
Using the wall for support, I eased myself back onto my feet and moved to the front of the cage. “Hey, Horde freaks, are you planning on letting us out of here anytime soon? Believe it or not, I do happen to have a life that I’d like to return to.”
“I’ve told you already, Arabella, you will not be leaving here.”
“Except I don’t recall ever agreeing to that,” I responded.
Cole moved in beside me, his body tense as he fought to keep from taking over. He’d become so used to taking over when I made things worse by opening my mouth, but in this case, he was going to have to remain quiet. I knew what I was doing. I just needed him to trust that.
“You can fight all you like, but if you do not do as ordered, we will bring in the clones. You will serve your true purpose, Arabella. You will become the face of the Horde.”
Yeah, that wasn’t creepy or anything
, I thought to myself.
“I don’t follow orders from crazed murderers,” I countered.
“You are not the only one of your kind, Arabella.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m a clone, a science experiment. You’ve said that,” I answered. “But what do you intend to do with the clones? Make them your killing machines? Force them to kill innocent people? I’m failing to understand the point of all of this.”
“That’s because you’re unable to see the world for what it truly is,” head Horde jackass answered. “You’re all living in a world driven by greed, by selfishness, by arrogance, and you’re too damn blind to see it. You’re willing to kill one another for possessions, to allow your needs to be someone of worth to destroy someone else for no good reason. I mean to render all of this, to give the world a chance at peace.”
See, that was the problem with crazed psychopaths such as the Horde. They liked to convince themselves that they were doing something good for the world, when in reality, they were doing nothing more than convincing themselves they were decent people.
“Let me get this straight, you believe that by using the clones as your personal weapons, you’ll be able to rid the world of corruption and discord?”
“How else would one go about fighting back against discord?”
At that, I let out a laugh. Cole shot me a look, warning me to pull it together. But at that moment, I didn’t give a shit. I knew that the Horde was bat-shit, but their plan was on a completely new level of idiotic. “I think you’ve been reading too many comic books, bud. You can’t fight discord with chaos. And more importantly, there’s no way in hell you can cleanse the entire world.”
“We shall see about that.”
E
ight days earlier...
“Mara tells me you’ve been acting out again, Arabella.” My father’s voice picked up as he grabbed a glass of whiskey from the bar counter behind his desk. The frustration and anger in his voice were clear, but I stopped caring what he thought of me long ago.
“So, let me see if I understand this correctly, stating that I’m tired of being treated as a product and that I want more out of my life is now considered acting out? Huh. That’s news to me.” I lowered myself into the seat across from him and lifted my ankles atop his desk, ignoring the glare he shot in my direction.
“You have a very good life here, Arabella. I don’t see why you feel the need for something else, especially considering what that very desire ended up costing us the last time.”
Gwen. As if he needed to remind me of what I’d lost, and how it had been my fault. Her death was something I would never be able to forgive myself for because she hadn’t deserved to die. But in my father’s eyes, I had not shown enough remorse.
“Is this why you had Cole bring me here? To remind me how much I screwed up? Because if that’s the case, consider this conversation over.”
He slammed the glass down on his desk as he fought to control his emotions.
I’d never had a great relationship with my father, although, I guessed that was normal considering what he’d done to Gwen and I. It was hard to have respect for a man that decided to turn his daughters into weapons after his wife left him.
It didn’t help that he only saw me as a subject of Project X.
I might have been his flesh and blood, but he sure as heck never seemed to treat me as such. Gwen, however, he adored her. And I’d taken her from him.
I understood why he’d been so cold towards me, but I no longer wanted to be his project – his weapon.
“I brought you here because I fear that you have forgotten what your duty is as Super.”
“To retrieve your precious hard-drives and watch over innocent civilians. I haven’t forgotten, Father.”
He opened his mouth to speak as he leaned back in his office chair with his hands cupped on his desk. “Your duty is to protect civilians while also hiding your identity.”
I was rather sure that had been what I’d said, but having decided that arguing would get me nowhere, I chose to remain quiet. There was no reasoning with my father and I knew that.
“You’ve made far too many impulse decisions, Arabella, decisions that have nearly ended our work here at Bilson Corporations, and for what? For freedom? The world outside of here doesn’t know what you are, and I highly doubt they are ready to find out.”
“You act as though I’m some sort of monster,” I snapped back. “Is that what you think of me, Father? That I’m nothing more than a monster? Because if so, let me remind you that I didn’t ask for any of this. This? All of this was your doing.”
Without shooting another glance in his direction, I slid my legs from off his desk and stood from the chair. Anger rolled throughout my body, and it took everything in me to rein it all in.
The downside to being a superhuman? Everything became enhanced, especially emotions. And emotions were already a pain in the ass as they were.
“When you come to your senses, be sure to find Cole. I’ve instructed Mara to give him the instructions for your next mission,” his voice filled the tense air as I made my way towards the door.
“I’m glad that’s what you are concerned about,” I muttered, slamming the door shut behind me.
How the heck had this become my life?
Sometimes I couldn’t help but to wonder what would have become of my life had my mother stuck around. It seemed as though everything had gone downhill after she left. It was something I tried not to think about too often, knowing that contemplating the what-if’s never helped to make reality any easier to cope with. But it was hard to deny the possibilities when anything was better than the hand I had been dealt.
I pulled a shock disc out of my back pocket and tossed it back and forth between my hands, trying to distract myself, when I heard Cole approaching behind me. “Must you always take advantage of my powers?” I groaned.
“It’s one of the perks of the job.” He tossed his arm around my shoulder and reached for the shock disc. “You probably shouldn’t be wasting these since I’m quite sure you’re going to need them tonight.”
“It’s only wasting them if you activate them,” I countered. “And I’m not stupid enough to activate a shock disc just to toy around with it.”
“Your father?” he asked, his voice suddenly serious.
“Yes, but we’re not going to discuss that right now.”
He was the last thing I wanted to discuss. Talking about how much he’d ticked me off would only result in flaring up my temper all over again, and I wasn’t in the mood to waste any more energy on him.