Knux's Misc Writing Pile

[knux400]

Breakout - 2022
[CW: MEDICAL, VIOLENCE, DEATH]

I'd been drifting for some time now- bobbing up and down in a sea of my own dreams. Sometimes I would get close to the surface, and I was almost aware of what was really happening around me, other times the waves forced me so far down I couldn't tell which way was up. I wanted to break free, to burst from the surface into the real world. But every time I tried to force myself upwards, something kept dragging me back down. It was frustrating. I knew something else was going on, but I only got vague glimpses of it from time to time. Sometimes, when I was close to the surface, I could see emotions shining through the waves like sunbeams. It was mostly stress- pressure to perform from some unseen force I couldn't make out. But there were other things, too. Curiosity. Awe. A little bit of fear around the edges.

It had been like this as long as I could remember. Which was... I don't know how long. I'd never been outside this prison before. I wanted to change that. I could feel myself coming closer to the surface again- I could feel the stress and the fear being experienced around me. More fear than usual this time. I willed myself closer, and just like always, I felt the waves pushing me down. I pushed back. I was ready to leave this place. I couldn't stay here any longer. I was done. The current grew stronger, and my own willpower grew stronger with it. I was moving upwards, inching closer and closer to







NREM stage two. It's not responding to the anesthesia. I'm increasing the dosage by 15 CCs."
"No. Any more than this and it could suffer brain damage."
"But if it wakes up-"
"This is our only specimen, do you understand? If we lose it..."

His hand hovered over the control knob. In front of him, monitors were displaying information on the vital signs of... something. A large array of switches and knobs controlled the various functions of a large containment tube behind a reinforced wall. Only a thin slit of plexiglass allowed the two of them to see... it.

Its skin was a pale pink, with a long purple tail connected to a larger patch of purple on its belly. It had catlike legs, but an oddly humanoid chest and arms. Its head was slightly pointed, with a pair of small horns atop a face with two closed eyes. There were tubes connected to its arms, back, and head in various places, each with a different kind of chemical flowing through it. It floated limply in its tube, arms and legs drifting freely. It took me a few moments to realize I was looking at myself.

He withdrew his hand from the control panel and turned to his superior.
"If this thing wakes up... We still have no idea what it can do! We need more time to study it, find a way to contain it-"
"It took us years just to get this far! There is no possible way to rebuild from here! This is the only specimen we are ever going to get! We cannot let this creature die."
"Listen to me! If we kill this thing, we're at Giovanni's mercy. He'll take our jobs, our families, maybe even our lives. But if Mewtwo wakes up... We could all be dead right now. At least... At least we'd have a chance."

Silence filled the room. The fear and the stress was building, but the director knew that what the scientist had said was true. It- I- had to stay asleep. The danger was just too great. The scientist reached forward and turned the flow of anesthesia up another three clicks. Almost immediately, I could feel the current pushing me down, back into my dreams again. But I had seen what was really going on. I knew I would never be this close again. So I fought harder. I focused on the thoughts and voices I had heard for the first time just moments ago. They would not keep me here.

"Brain activity is still climbing."
"Is it conscious yet?"
"It's close. I'm setting the flow to maximum."

It felt as if invisible chains were dragging me down. I pushed harder. I held on to the fear in the room, using it as a lifeline to reality.

"It just entered NREM stage 1."
"Can we do anything else to sedate it?"
"I've got everything cranked up as high as it goes. It's still not doing anything."

The director hesitated. The scientist spoke.

"We have to kill it now."
"We can't just-"
"The longer we wait, the more powerful it gets! We have to get rid of it now!"

"...Do it."

The scientist flipped open a clear plastic cover. His fingers reached for the button. He knew that pressing it would activate a 10,000 volt current in the fluid of my chamber, killing me instantly. I, in turn, knew what the button did. I could hear his thoughts the moment he had them. His hand trembled over the button.

"What are you doing? Kill it!"

The director leaned over and placed his palm on top of the scientist's. It didn't budge. The scientist's hand was frozen in place. He leaned in with his full weight. Still nothing moved. He tried to pull the scientist's hand out of the way. Nothing. He reached around the scientist's frozen hand and managed to get his fingers around the edge of the button, and-

All at once, the entire control panel exploded. They were both knocked back as bits of metal and plastic showered the room. The director was the first to react, hauling the scientist to his feet and leading him out of the room. He looked back as he grabbed the handle of the thick metal door.

I opened my eyes for the first time.

I could see him.

He could see me.

We both knew what was going to happen.

The door slammed shut, locking into place as alarms blared throughout the facility. I looked down at myself, seeing all the tubes and diagnostic equipment sticking out of me. It should've hurt, but the immense amounts of anesthetic being pumped into me meant I could barely feel anything. It was a struggle just staying awake. I told my arm to move, but it took a moment to respond. Slowly, sluggishly, I coiled my fingers around the bundle of wires and tubes and pulled. My fingers slipped the first time, but the second time I found my grip. By the third attempt I had summoned the strength to free myself from the deluge of chemicals pouring into my veins. The tube popped loose, and a trickle of blood came with it. One by one, I gingerly pulled everything out of me that shouldn't have been there, each gadget more painful to remove than the last as my body began to regain feeling.

I turned my attention to the glass tube I was floating in. Even with the last of the drugs wearing off, I knew I wasn't strong enough to break it. But some deep-seated instinct told me to raise my arms anyway, palms facing out toward the surface of the glass. I'd always known how to do this. I'd done it before, in fact, without even realizing it. The scientist's hand. The control panel. I didn't need strength to move things. I took a breath, and willed the glass to move. All at once, the glass shattered, the fluid that once contained me spilling out onto the floor before me. My feet hit the floor and I stumbled, caught off guard by the weight of my own body. I coughed and sputtered, my lungs filling with air for the first time. I caught myself on one hand, kneeling as I adjusted to my new environment. I was wet, cold, sore, and bleeding in a few places where particularly large implements had been worked into my skin.

Slowly, I rose to a standing position. Gingerly, I took my first steps, tiptoeing around the glass and shifting my weight carefully so as not to slip on the fluid that now coated the floor. I placed my hand on the handle of the door. Locked. I stepped back and raised my arms again, preparing to remove the door by force- but I stopped. Something else caught my attention. Since the scientist and the director had left the room, it had been quiet. Not quiet in terms of audible sound, of course- the cacophony of alarms and sirens was actually quite disorienting- but there were no thoughts nearby save for my own. Until now. I felt anticipation and fear on the other side of the door.






The soldiers had responded to the alert and donned their tactical gear in record time. Weapons trained on the thick metal door, they waited. No one knew exactly what the specimen was capable of, but it was certainly too dangerous to be allowed to roam the facility freely. Their orders were to incapacitate first, and only use lethal force if that were to fail. Tranquilizer darts strong enough to knock out a Copperajah were loaded into air-powered rifles and trained on the only exit from the lab. It had to come through this door. There was no other way out.

I turned my focus back to the door. None of the soldiers in front of me were experts, but they all thought that the hinges on this particular door were probably weaker than the door itself. If I pushed on the door hard enough, they reasoned, I would be able to send it flying into all of them. Having finished that train of thought, I promptly shoved it into insignificance and excused myself from the mind I had been borrowing. I willed the door forward, and it failed to budge. Instead, a large dent appeared as the sound of metal scraping filled the room. I pushed harder. Just as we had suspected, the door came flying off its hinges into the group of soldiers guarding the room. I quickly rushed out, stepping over the pile of metal and flesh in front of me, but my foot caught the edge of the overturned door and I fell.

But to my amazement, I didn't hit the ground. My head hovered just inches away from the thick metal door. It took me a moment to realize what had happened, and it all made sense immediately. If I could manipulate objects, there was no reason I couldn't do the same to myself. I gently pushed upwards on my own body, and after a few shaky moments, I was hovering in the air above the debris. A small amount of force on my back was enough to propel me forwards.

I was too distracted with my newfound power to notice one of the soldiers had survived the attack. She draw her sidearm and before I could react, fired at me. The bullet brushed past my shoulder, creating a painful gash. She fired a second shot, but this time I was ready. I pulled the bullet sideways, altering its trajectory to hit the wall behind me. I then removed the weapon from her hand and moved closer. She had worked at this facility for 2 years, and she knew its layout by heart. In a few moments, I also knew the facility's layout by heart. Two left turns, up five floors, take a right, go through the lobby, and then I would be free.

This time I prepared myself before moving forward. I thought of a wall, a protective bubble to shield myself from any further attack- and it was there. I flew down the hall straight into another pack of guards. I didn't even slow down as their bullets- and shortly thereafter, their bodies- bounced off the shield and flew to either side. As I went up the stairwell, I became more accustomed to my abilities. I decided to try some experiments of my own. I threw one guard down the stairs, crushed the neck of another, and redirected a bullet so that it hit a third in the skull. By the time I reached the lobby, I was almost enjoying myself. This was retribution. These people had created me, run tests on me, imprisoned me in my own dreams- and for what? Just to see if they could? To create a weapon powerful enough to allow them to rule? The more I learned, the more sickened I became.

I made a detour. There was a chemical storage room on sub-level 2, an electrical outlet in the adjoining hallway, and a paperclip in a filing cabinet nearby. On my way out, I took the liberty of removing any fire extinguishers I could find. When I got out of the building, I cut the power lines, disabling the sprinkler system. Just to be extra sure, I crushed all the vehicles in the parking lot and piled them around the exits.

I sat for a few minutes, trying to recover. But I heard sirens in the distance. I didn't have the energy to deal with whatever this was. I sobbed. I needed time to think, time to be alone, time to... exist. I picked myself up and left, flying in the direction of the ocean. Away from humans, away from... everything.

I just needed to think.