"Hey!" With the word came pain and nausea as something heavy connected with Taryn's head. Her eyes opened to darkness. She coughed weakly, tasting blood as she licked her lip. She struggled against resistance, feeling strands of something dig into her the more she leaned. Another wave a nausea hit her. Fire. That's what it felt like. Fire. Or...maybe ice. Dios, I think that's a poem.
"Wakey wakey little weakling." The sing-song voice was back. It was her voice. At a pitch she'd never used. That she'd never had.
Not weak...
"Oh, but you are. Bring me closer, would you?" Ethan's body, because it had to be his body and not truly Ethan, jerked forward and Taryn's chair slid a few inches closer to the monitor. A frustrated sound came from speakers. "Closer!" A cold hand settled on Taryn's forehead and pushed, pinning her head to the back of the chair. Taryn blinked slowly. Everything was fuzzy around the edges. And dark. She tried to bring the screen into focus. The light hurt to look at, the image was blurry. But the speakers were very clear. Satisfied with the change in position, the figure continued. "You have a pretty bad track record. Every time you fight you lost. You got cut up, broken up, then you decided to fry yourself. Now that could have been brilliant except that you didn't compensate for the additional current. See here." There was a high pitched whine across the speakers and something rattled. The whine steadied into a rhythm of high and low frequencies. Taryn dimly recognized the sound as a dot-matrix printer. The sound of perforated paper being torn was distracting.
"Here! The files from your self-immolation attempt." The figure on screen shook her hand with a soft whistle. "I have to say I could almost be impressed with your healing time except, of course, it's a lot slower than mine. You couldn't even improve your pain threshold. Two cc's of morphine for...what is this...a potentially infected gash? Ah, wait this is recent. Let's go back to frydom." There was the sound of papers shuffling. With a small sigh Taryn lowered her head.
"Don't fall asleep now. Here, I'll cut to the chase since you obviously can't appreciate my genius. You shacked up with your abuser. The man who defeated you. Nearly killed you. It's not normal. It's not even the good kind of crazy. And I should know."
What?
"Ah ah ah. Here. Look." Abruptly the voice changed from sarcastic and insulting to cajoling. The laptop on the floor directly in front of Taryn powered on. Skipping the normal boot screen it went straight to a black screen with a single folder opened. File after file began opening in new windows. Picture after picture was displayed until the black could no longer be seen. Vivid technicolor images of herself and Levi. Personal pictures. Publicity photos. Everything. "You really should check your security settings. That man with the vest obsession. The powerful one."
Levi...
"We call him Victor here so let's call him Victor. Though ours has this weird dual identity going. From what I see, this guy beat you. Defeated you. And you accepted it. You lay there beaten, and you didn't die. You -lost-. You lost and not only that you gave yourself to the winner. Like a damn consolation prize."
On screen, Taryn's counterpart scoffed quietly. "It's sad, you see. Your...dependance. Your weakness. You should be the best! Strong! Fierce! Instead you are..." She snapped a few times.
"Complacent. Secondary..." There was a slight pause that grew into a stretch of silence. Taryn tilted her head to view the closest monitor. The figure on screen was wearing a completely different expression now. Now longer bored she now looked...angry. "You are lazy! You get beaten and you don't get stronger you get worse! Look!" Suddenly the screen was covered by an off-white blur.
"No no no. Look at me. " The obscuring item vanished and there was more finger snapping. "See where I am? See this place? It's mine. I control everything in this room. This room that no one's' been able to find on oh....[small]how long has it been since...[/small] ten years? [small]sure[/small] Perfectly secure. Perfectly mine. And I need. NO ONE! No...one..."
And then something strange happened. As Taryn watched through one eye the figure suddenly slammed her hand down on the armrest. And then...it was like an ion storm. Electricity surged into being and actually shot from the figure's body to items off screen. A howl cut through the sound of lightning as the figure began to shake violently. She pitched forward, then seemed to be thrown backwards a second later. Morbidly fascinated, Taryn watched as her doppelganger writhed and disappeared in a sphere of light. And then as suddenly as it appeared, the light vanished.
Behind the figure's head fluorescent bulbs hung from their sockets. Sparks sprayed from the machinery. The room was darker. But Taryn was most confused by the harsh breathing of her other self. Hunched over and panting she sounded almost winded. But then there was a loud cough and the figure straightened quickly. For a moment their gazes locked. And Taryn grunted in surprise. The expression that met hers was almost lucid. Just for a second. Something flickered across that face. Her face. An expression that she almost recognized. Then the unfocused gaze and manic grin returned.
"We should talk. You and I." Long sleeves brushed sparking cloth aside as though nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
The cold hand returned to force Taryn's head up. "No." she uttered quietly.
"No? Well then I suppose you won't mind if I bring this," Ethan's body suddenly seized, "to play with."
"Don't..."
"Don't make me! I can make you better! I can make you more"
Ethan dropped to the ground and Taryn gave a harsh cry. Her chest felt constricted, she couldn't get enough air.
"Okay! Okay..."
On screen, her alter clapped. Actually clapped. "Good! Then it's settled. I have to...clean up first though. And find just the right place for this little picnic. I'll send word when I'm ready. Ta!"
"Ethan..."
"Oh you can have your little toy back for now. I've already given him a nice muzzle and tags. Just try not to break him before tonight, would you? I'd hate to have to come find you myself. All those silly little minute men. Lined up in a row."
'No! Taryn woke up with a gasp that turned to a choked cry as she tried to inhale. Grabbing blindly with one hand she ripped off the oxygen mask covering her face and nose. Instead of the dark room she was now doused in white light. And white sheets.
'What? How? What?'. She turned her heat to see metal bars that struck a familiar cord. Hospital bed. She was in a hospital. And something was wrong with her arm. Taryn lifted her left arm and drew in a startled breath when she was met with a heavy cast. She struggled to sit up.
The room was dimly lit but the medical equipment on display was easy to identify. Taryn found a clock on the wall that told her she'd been asleep for several hours.
'Explains why there are no doctors. she noted. Levi was sleeping in a chair in the corner of the room. His quiet breathing brought a half-smile to Taryn's face. With a light touch Taryn shut down the monitors that were recording her heart rate. She winced slightly as she pulled the IV out of her arm, leaving it and the sticky tape in a ball. An off-white sling was sitting on the end of the bed. Taryn grabbed it.
Just as she settled the frustrating gear Taryn's phone gave a soft chirp signalling a text message.
Code:
'You have one hour. Look for the signs.'
"What if I don't want to?" Taryn mumbled quietly. Her phone suddenly gave a high pitched whine and smoke began to drift from its sides. Startled, Taryn dropped the device to her bed where it continued to smoke until the screen shorted out. "Damnit." she swore quietly. "I liked that phone." But she'd gotten her answer.
Sneaking quietly across the room Taryn made her way to the nearest door. She'd found her shoes next to Levi but her jacket was missing. The soft red glow of the lock flashed green as Taryn touched the door handle. She was going to be led, it seemed. As she stepped into the hallway the door shut behind her with a quiet hiss. The locked re-engaged and the overhead lights grew brighter down the left hall. She was going to be led
and not be able to go back, it seemed.
'Meet, greet, get the heck out after Ethan's safe.' Taryn reminded herself. She turned left.
****
Getting off of the base was not as difficult as Taryn had imagined. Despite her secret hope to be stopped by one of the patrolling soldiers none of them seemed to notice her. The cameras of course were always malfunctioning. They turned as obediently as the queen's dog.
The highway was worn, and old. And the sparking power lines she'd been following stopped a good two minutes ago in a frayed mess. Maybe there had been a storm earlier?
Taryn now had no idea where she was supposed to go. And without her watch she didn't know how long she'd been gone. To distract herself she look at the trees. There were many. The ones on the left looked planted, they were too perfectly spaced to be anything but. But on the right side, where she was walking, the trees belonged to a dense forest were insects and birds were making their presence known.
A small firefly ventured away from its leafy shelter and drifted down towards Taryn. She stopped and watched its descent. The color was slightly off, it's glow a more orange than yellow.
"You remind me of something." She told the insect.
"You're late."
Startled, Taryn spun around at the low voice. There on the road, hands casually held behind her back, was her alter. Fear chased the remnants of morphine away.
"Okay. I'm here. What do you want." Taryn spoke quietly. Her own arms crossed in front of her chest.
"It's your lucky day! I've decided to help you." Her alter smiled and half-skipped forward.
"I don't need help. I need you to leave me alone. Please." The please wavered slightly as Taryn backed up. Closer to the dark woods.
"Oh, come 'on. It'll be fun! You'll be better and I'll be less inclined to kill you. It's a win-win!"
"I really don't..."
"Come ooooon." Her alter's arms came forward and Taryn froze. In the darkness she couldn't tell if there was anything but a real long rifle pointed at her. She was prepared to fight if she had to. But she couldn't block a bullet.
"Please don't." Why had she agreed to this? Why? Why didn't she tell Levi? She could have told him. She could have found another way to free Ethan.
"No!" Taryn yelled as she hurled electricity at the alter. She turned to run while still pouring energy into the attack.
Taryn's double grinned gleefully as she pulled the trigger and made no move to dodge the attack. Taryn yelled again and reached for her shoulder where pain erupted. The brightly colored dart she pulled away was small but sharp. She tried to keep running but she could only sway in place. Something blue flickered. Taryn looked up to see her electricity circling the alter in a playful wave. A bitter taste rose in her mouth. The blue light blurred. She didn't even feel herself fall.
****
It was cold. That was the first thing Taryn noticed. Cool air rushed by and brought the stink of wet dirt and something else she couldn't identify. A sense of dread followed déjà vu when she opened her eyes to darkness. "Mmmmph!" Something was wrapped around her mouth, preventing anything more than a muffled groan.
"Easy on the tie, you know that was once the finest silk money could buy. Or in my case, steal?"
"Mmm?" Taryn coughed against the cloth stuffed in her mouth. There was a pounding in her skull and she couldn't take a full breath.
"You're probably still a little out of it. I wasn't sure if you were comparable to a 'small or medium buck' or closer to a 'large bear'. The camera always adds ten pounds you know. The saleslady was useless when I told her I needed to down a human. Speaking of, did you know the normal human body can only take so many volts of electricity before the neurons in their brain start to malfunction? Normal humans, I mean. It starts interfering with their
braaain waves. Hahahaha. And their little vital organs. But, good news for you, you have a sliiightly higher threshold..."
As her alter continued to talk Taryn continued to struggle, to move her arms and legs. But she was restrained. Her body was wrapped in something with blunt edges that covered her chest and kept her legs still. Her arms were outstretched but secured at the wrist and shoulder to the weird metal table she felt she was lying on.
'Wire'? Was it wire? Something that smelled like rust and dirt rested beside her on the table. She could just see the edges of it when she turned her head. Metal. Metal, rust, and dirt. And there was a weird charge coming from somewhere. Like static. Like...being near one of those Van de Graaff generators. It made her itch. Taryn craned her neck to look sideways and saw an IV bag hanging on a broken shelf. She followed the small tube and saw it connected to her arm...but she couldn't feel the needle.
A flashlight was abruptly shoved close to her face. Taryn flinched and shut her eyes, still pushing against the restraints instinctively. It felt like her entire arm was in a cast. It wouldn't move.
"Now, now." Her captor chided her quietly and put her hand on her stomach. She couldn't feel it, not through the restraints, but all of sudden it got harder to breathe. "Don't mess with the cables of life. It took forever to get those just right and if you get 'em crisscrossed I'll be cross."
Cables? Not wire. It was computer cables before. But these were different still. She had to know. She had to know so she could get out.
Metal scraped against stone and a chair suddenly appeared at Taryn's eye level. She tilted her head to watch her alter sit down in the chair backwards, leaning the chair casually on one leg. She reached for something on the ground, holding it up for Taryn to see. A thick cable, its end a mess of copper wires and shredded black plastic. It looked like...
'Oh God.'. Power lines. Active power lines. It wasn't static she was feeling. It was
current.
"And now," Taryn's head rocked as an unexpected blow landed on her chest, "we begin." Her field of vision filled with white light that grew brighter as the low hum of current grew louder. The first stream of energy hit the cables. And Taryn began to scream.
****
The key to a good charge, was making sure the increase was constant. Her subject wasn't talking anymore. Or mumbling. Or whatever that god-awful high pitched whine could be considered. Really after the first ten minutes it was just annoying to listen to. But that's okay. Now she had time to focus on the important things. Like redirecting every ounce of the city's power grid. It was just like baking. She had to hit the perfect temperature before her creation could transform from plain 'ol dough to glorious baked goods. She used the brightness of the glow encasing her subject as a guide.
'X volts for Y minutes plus Z. And Presto.'
"And here is the key ingredient. Z." It was a shame her little protegee couldn't see her magic formula. It'd taken years to finish. Not to mention the number of stolen assistants from the biology labs and the chemist she'd had to blackmail into separating the enzymes correctly. Hours and hours of someone's hard work she'd bought and never paid for to get this right. But why should she be the lab monkey when here was a perfect petri dish to test on. If she could take this zero up to a three, then imagine what it would do to her eleven.
"It's red dye number twelve. Can't you tell? Haha!" The fluid that slowly filled the syringe was in fact bright red. Tinted with small flecks of blue. Tossing the IV bag connection aside she slowly depressed the plunger.
"Just kidding. It's blood. Well, sort of. It used to be. Now it's got a few little additions. It's taken
years to develop, you see. And three professor-scientists. Two chemists. One absolutely horrid biologist who was not worth the funds I claimed to pay him. And of course they all had to be silenced once they'd completed their work. This is liquid perfection. A fix-all transfusion."
The body on the table seized within its bonds. She ignored the movement, and finished emptying the container. "Let's find out what you're made of." She had little faith in the scientists of the world. Really if this resulted in even the tiniest increase she'd be legitimately impressed. And then she'd have to severely injure someone for lying to her of course. The rest of the batch was safely in her main lab, tagged and ready for her own transformation.
Taryn clapped her hands in glee. This was so exciting! She leaned down to whisper-shout in her subject's ear. "You'll be stronger." The contract said so! And lawyers never lie.
She took hold of the root cables again, which were still crackling with transferred electricity. The energy was designed to find the fastest route to ground. It's how lightning rods work. Grounded, was the term. But what if there was no ground? No way to dissipate all of that energy. What if instead it simply builds. More energy. More power. That's what she needed. More power for the activation. With a twist and a turn another cable wrapped snugly around her subject. More power. Power to activate, power to change. Power to build. Power to...
Now, what was wrong with the blasted voltage meter? It was flickering. It wasn't supposed to do that. Constant, steady increase. That was the key. Not...No! "Wait. No. No no no no no stop that. No!"
Within an abandoned storage building in an abandoned forest of trees, electricity flared bright white in coils and cables and seams. Sparks scattered to fly across every available surface as the air itself became ionized. Bright as day the area was illuminated. And then everything stopped. And everything went dark.
