Alia O’Neal opened her eyes. Her mind was a mess. She could barely comprehend what just happened.

Her vision was fuzzy at first, but she eventually managed to see what was around her.

She was in an empty white room. As far as she could see there wasn’t any furniture. She looked down and saw an orange prison suit on her. A stinging feeling was still on the back of her neck, reminding her of the last thing she saw before she was knocked out.

She met a group of soldiers. The next thing she knew she was in this room. Likely she was attacked by someone. Maybe it was some sort of specialized undead...she knew it was unlikely considering she was still alive, but she subconsciously believed it because the alternative was so terrible.

What she saw next crushed the last fragment of hope.

A device popped out of the ceiling and projected a screen onto one of the white walls. In it was a man in a white scientist lab coat. Two soldiers in army uniform were standing next to him.

“What…” Alia stumbled as she scanned the three figures, trying to get as much information as possible. “What’s happening? Who are you?”

The man had a blank face on and ignored the question. Instead, he was all businesslike. “Explain your power.” He said explicitly.

Alia wasn’t paying attention to the scientist. She felt her arm stung slightly, looked down, and found her right arm was covered with needle marks. She felt a sense of dizziness that was likely a result of the loss of blood. All of a sudden everything made sense.

The soldiers weren’t the saviors they pretended to be. The pain in the back of her neck wasn’t a result of some sort of undead. It came from a weapon of one of the soldiers behind her. She was knocked out and taken into some sort of lab likely by people who wanted to learn more about her power.

This was one of the most common cliches in superhero movies.

A part of Alia knew this the moment she woke up, but she had always been refusing to believe it. It might be the truth, but it was a terrible one. It meant that the military, built to protect the people, has turned to an evil fraction only seen in films. To a girl like her who believed in goodness in the world and the righteousness of the government, this was like pouring salt on the wound. She stared blankly on her arms, not answering the questions.

The scientist frowned in dissatisfaction and nodded at someone next to him. The next second Alia screamed as she felt something on her neck delivering electricity surges into her body. She touched it and realized it was some sort of collar. The soldiers must have put it on her when she was down.

That was sick on more than one level.

She tried to take it off, but the pain made her collapse to her knees. She had neither the strength nor the will to remove it with force.

The electricity ended in ten seconds, but it seemed like a decade to Alia. The mental and physical pain she received was unbearable. When the collar halted, she was on the ground with her suit stained in cold sweat.

“Explain your power.” The scientist repeated, showing no guilt of torturing an innocent young woman. It wasn’t like this was the first time he did something like this. It was a bit rough at first, but eventually, he got used to it. If anything he was starting to enjoy seeing others scream at his single command. This gave him a sense of power.

“You son of a bitch.” Alia struggled back up and swore like she never did before. She was always a good girl, but what happened was enough to make her use a few words she would usually frown upon.

The scientist nodded at his coworker again, and ten seconds later Alia was again on the ground.

“Explain your power.” The scientist’s tone didn’t change in the slightest bit.

Alia held her teeth tight. She groaned and held her hands out, attempting to channel the power within her to not only protect herself, but also to hurt the man in white. At first she felt something and tiny dots of flame started to form in the room, but her plan was quickly stopped by another surge of electric currents. The excruciating pain was more than the girl could handle. Only the best voyagers could perform spells when they were under severe pain, and Alia was not one of them.

“Explain your power. This is your last chance. Refuse, and you will be executed.“ The fourth warning was also the final one.

Alia complied. Her hatred at the soldiers was at its peak, but she knew she would be dead if she refused to answer. She didn’t want to die, at least not yet. She still had a family. Even if he wasn’t there when she was taken, he was surely on the way here. Plus, she trusted these soldiers and was betrayed, and she wanted to make them pay.

The thirty seconds of electricity changed something in the girl’s heart. She would never be the same girl back in the roads welcoming the soldiers with open arms.

“I can control fire.” She explained in a tone as calm as she could manage, trying to conceal her hatred. Now was not the time.

The scientist silently took a few notes. “Describe the process. How do you control fire?”

“I don’t know. I just can. It’s like breathing or eating. It’s an instinct.”

If the scientist was unsatisfied, he didn’t show it. “Use your power on the wall to your right.”

Alia turned and, without any movement, a fireball formed in front of her. She toyed with the idea of smashing it at the projector or at the wall, but she knew it would be pointless.

The fireball touched the designated wall and exploded. As soon as it did, the scientist turned to a screen that showed everything he needed to know about the girl’s power, including the explosion radius and the temperature of the attack.

Alia could see the scientist taking a few notes before the projection suddenly went dark. Before she could see or know anything, a familiar pain hit her in the neck, again. Once again she collapsed and lost consciousness.

On the other side, the scientist looked at the notes and tapped his face in frustration. He didn’t even notice when a man walked up to him.

“Doctor Hans.” The man said quietly.

The scientist immediately replaced the blank look with a smile. He could ignore what most people thought about him, whether they were the lab rats or the fellow workers, but the man in front of him might be the only person whose opinion he couldn’t ignore. “General.”

“What is the status of the mutant experiment?” General Howe said quietly as the two guards saluted. Their black guard armbands showed their ultimate loyalty to their commander.

“Not well.” Hans knew telling the truth, no matter how bad it was, was always better than telling a lie. “I have taken samples off these mutants and did examinations, but everything about their cell is perfectly normal. Without labels I can’t even tell the sample of a mutant from that of myself.”

“And…”

“Well, that means however these mutants gained their power, it is beyond our understanding.” Hans said slowly. “If I can’t detect the cause, I can’t duplicate it.”

Howe didn’t show any expression, but his cold tone made the scientist freeze a little.

“Doctor Hans.” He whispered. “I remember you were just a medic before all of this, correct?”

“Yes, general.”

“And now, now you are the leading scientist in this facility. You have authority over almost everyone in this place. You have achieved a level of power you could only dream of in the past.”

“Yes, general.” Hans repeated, slightly understanding what Howe was trying to say.

“But don’t forget how you got into this place, doctor. I made you who you are today, and I can also destroy you.” Howe threatened. “You don’t want to suffer the same fate your predecessor did.”

Hans gulped. He was only a low level medic before the apocalypse. His predecessor, a much more skilled scientist than Hans ever was, was the primary choice of leading this operation. Unfortunately, he decided this type of experimentation was too cruel. Let’s just say the man didn’t meet a peaceful end.

Hans didn’t know what exactly happened to that man, but he didn’t want to find out.

As his mind was turning, the general was continuing. “Keep working, doctor, and for your sake I hope you will be successful.” He turned and left the lab without waiting for a further answer from the scientist.

The workers in the lab looked at their superior in silence, but none of them comforted him. Doctor Hans wasn’t exactly the most respected scientist. Not everyone could sit tight while innocents screamed, which made the only one in the room who could do that an outcast. Plus, Hans didn’t shy away from taking advantage of the general’s trust toward him.

“Bring up prisoner number 5 and prepare a dissection.” The doctor finally said. If he wanted to live, he would need to take more drastic measures to have any hope of getting some desired results, and he certainly wanted to live.