Your room probably has more goodies than you could have imagined being crammed into even the most luxurious hotel room, but you're heading towards the door before you can stop yourself. You're in the middle of some unknown facility with free access to do whatever.
This is the closest thing to a First Class ticket that you've ever gotten in your life.
Each step is easier than the last, to the point that when you get to the door you feel almost weightless. You touch the handle of the door, and it swings open by itself. You lean out into the hall, checking if anyone is there. But you don't see anyone else other than yourself.
The halls are lined with bland white walls on all four sides. The only change that you can see is the corner at the other end of the hallway. With nowhere else to go, you start walking. The steps continue to get easier, probably your muscles finally being able to move like they were supposed to after all this time. You pass a door leading into another room. It's still in the same hallway as your room, so it was probably for the other chosen that the letter talked about.
It also said that you weren't supposed to disturb them. Either way, you're probably going to meet them some time later. You've got time now, might as well use it. Continuing on, you pass by two other rooms before turning in the available space. The second you round the corner, you're forced to stop as it becomes a dead end. An elevator is etched into the wall. You take a step forward, and it opens for you.
Well, doors seem to be very nice here.
Setting your musings aside, you head into the elevator and check the available buttons. Instead of floors, there is simply labels and a list of different numbers. Of the labels you can read you see Lab, Testing, Food, Main Office, Directors Storage, and finally Quarters. That one is still blinking red, probably indicating that's where you were.
Well you haven't had breakfast yet, might as well change that.
You press the Food button and the light starts blinking yellow before flashing red.
"Food courts not in operation during training hours."
The disembodied voice comes out of seemingly no where, making you jump and scaring the crap out of you. The lights above you intensify for a second as you try and make sense of what you heard. You check for speakers, but you can't see a thing. Then again, this place has cameras, hidden speakers aren't that far a step up.
With Food out of the picture, you're left with the other options. You could pick one of the number buttons, but that sounds like a good way to get lost.
Oh to hell with it.
You reach out, and press the closest button on the panel. Looking down, you see the button labeled OT-3 blinking a soft green light. OT? Observation? Bit of a stretch yeah, but it's better than nothing. The elevator doors slide to a shut, hissing as they seal themselves shut. The light above you flickers for a second, but then returns to normal. The ride… down? You really don't know what direction you're going. The elevator is seamless, no jolting or sound of any kind coming from the machinery. It seems perfect, at the peak of technology.
The doors hiss once more as they open, revealing the most open room you've ever seen in your life. It looks something straight out of the spy movies your dad liked to watch. Mirror polished floors, more space than you can care to fit anything in, along with windows lining all four walls. All you needed is a giant round table with evil business people sitting around it and it would be perfect.
You step out of the elevator and the doors slide back into place. It could be going up or down, but you have no idea. You check around the room, the windows more specifically. This place is supposed to be observation, probably just the vista. You head to your left, picking the direction at random. As you get closer, you start to see the vibrant blues and silver winds of the ocean staring back at you.
The sun is shining perfectly overhead, framing the sight in an almost perfect rainbow hue. Pressing your hand against the glass, you stare out at the sight before you. You weren't just overlooking the ocean like you thought back in your room, you were overlooking the ocean from atop what looked like a mountain. The sheer drop of the cliff is so big that you can barely see the bottom. In fact, you can only see the bottom because it's surrounded by ocean.
The cliff face seems to just drop to the waters below, but you can see a small silver circle at the base. Is it a landing platform for a helicopter or something? Weren't those things supposed to be on the roof of something?
You see something reflect the light on the platform.
Wait is that coming clos-
You're thrown back as something rushes past the window, shaking the entire building on its way by. Your ears scream as the unholy screeching threatens to break them apart. You're thrown backward, and you land hard on your back. But it doesn't hurt as much as you'd think it would.
You reach for a hand, trying to get up, but your head is still ringing from the sound. You put one foot under you and push, but you only manage to turn yourself over. You force your eyes shut, desperation to speed the process of regaining your bearings becoming the top priority. You manage to get one foot under you. It's shaky, but you manage to stand.
Only to immediately fall down once again as the shaking returns to the building. You manage to slam your face onto the plane of glass on the other side of the room. Man, that blast threw you pretty far. You rub your temples, trying to get your vision back. It's faster this time, given the blow isn't as hard. Your head is still ringing slightly, but at least you can see inside the observation window.
And what you see makes your jaw drop.
It's a large open room, not unlike the one you were in. It looks like a giant cube with silver tiles covering the surface. There were several targets lined along the edge of the room, making it seem like a very expensive firing range.
Now, that would be fine.
What wasn't fine was the fact that there was a guy fucking flying in the center of the room.
You blink, rub your eyes, pinch yourself, but the sight doesn't go away. Hovering in the center of the room, you see the back of a man in a tight fitting nylon suit that covered everything but his head.
He's flying…
How is…
What?
What is going on?
People can't fly? How the hell is he flying?
You're dreaming, that's is the only explanation. You're actually just on some sort of bad acid trip and you've been hallucinating all of this. Yeah, that explains the flying men and voices out of nowhere.
The man in a suit raises his hand, his fingertips charging with energy. You can hear a faint humming through the glass. Is that… coming from him?
The energy grows until it fires in twin lances of blue and white energy that hits the targets. One is frozen solid, another is on fire.
… he just shot lasers… how did he shoot lasers?
Yep, you're definitely on acid.
Just go back to your room, lie down, and wake up in a place where things make sense. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.
Your legs move on autopilot, guiding you away from the glass and back to the elevator. The second you're close enough, you press the call button as fast as you can. It flashes green and then to yellow. You don't know what that meant but it doesn't stop you from pressing the button faster.
You don't care if it was bad, you're getting the hell out of this crazy place!
A second passes, than another, but still no elevator. The flashing yellow light goes red, and you hear some kind of spark. It flashes over the button, and the light promptly shuts off.
... oh god please don't be dead.
You press the button, but all you manage to do is elicit the clicking sound of it going into the wall socket. You try again, and again, you're met with nothing.
You're stuck here, aren't you?
...shit.
The sound of fire and explosions forces you to turn back to the room with the flying man. Risking a peak, you take a step back towards the glass and you notice him slowly floating back down to the ground. You see him stumble as he hits the ground, like this flying thing is new to him. He rolls his shoulders and for some strange reason, he looks right up at you.
You may or may not have screeched like a little girl and jumped back when he did, but that's besides the point.
No matter how it actually went down, the truth is that you're back on your ass on the ground. But, once again, it doesn't hurt that much. Actually, it's more like it only hurts for a second before everything's fine.
You barely notice as he flies up to the pane of glass to get a better look at you. At first glance, the guy looks like one of those jocks who planned on being a supermodel when they left school. His features looked straight out of young adult magazine. Wavy brown, good features, and a square jaw to finish up the look.
He stares at you, confusion clear on his face. It only lasts a second, then he flashes a smile and waves.
"Hi there."
… ok, the flying man is polite. That's a plus, you guess.
You raise a shaky hand and wave back "...uh… hi?"
Your answer seems to trip up the flying man, an expression of shock overtaking him. Then, he sees that he's flying and he nods in understanding.
"It's a bit weird seeing it for the first time, I know. But trust me, you're not on drugs, you're not dreaming, this is really happening."
It takes all of your mental fortitude not to scream bullshit at the flying man, but that probably isn't the best idea to say that to someone you just met. Especially if that someone can shoot lasers.
"Hey!" He calls, tapping on the glass "You ok there?"
You raise an eyebrow "Yeah, I'm fine."
"You were blanking there for a second."
"Well in my defence, I just woke up after figuring out that I was cured of… something and saw you shoot."
You slowly get up and mime lasers with your hands. You might have made pew pew sounds, but they probably weren't that loud. At least, you hope they aren't.
He nods "Yeah, one of the gifts that came from my vial."
Vial? The hell is he talking… wait, is he talking about the same vial that took away your cancer?
Did that mean… no.
No way.
No way in hell.
Before you can ask anything, his eyes widen in realization "Hey you wouldn't happen to be Alex, would you?"
If you wanted to hide your surprise, you fail spectacularly. You never were very good at doing that sort of thing anyway.
"Yeah." You confirm, albeit hesitantly.
He smiles "Well it's good to finally meet you Alex. I'm Matthew, I'd shake your hand but the glass makes things rather difficult. Are you here for training?"
"Yeah I'm," You stop yourself from saying another word.
Too many things didn't make sense, and it was coming too fast!
"No!" You scream, your voice cracking from the stress of all of this crazy shit.
"I'm… what the hell do you mean training?! How are you flying?! What is this talk about vials?! Where the hell am I and why are you so calm about this?!"
You pant, you rant, draining your energy as Matthew just looks on. He doesn't seem offended by your outburst. If anything, he seems to understand.
"Anything else?" He asks.
"Give me a minute and I'll find something else to scream about, just you wait." You promise.
"Well, I'll be more than happy to explain things if you'd let me." Matthew says.
Your eyes widen "Yes, please."
Matthew smiles again "First things first, you're in-."
Whatever Matthew wants to say next, it's cut off by the most godawful alarm sound you've heard in your life. You cover you ears and shut your eyes to block out the sound, but it pierces straight through your flimsy barricades. You crack a single eye open just in time for you to see Matthew try to scream something at you.
You can't hear him, you can't hear a single thing over this noise! No, not noise, pain! It feels as if your ears are tearing themselves apart. It doesn't stop, it's just the same beeping over and over again!
Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep
God you hate that sound.
You want it to stop, you need to make it stop!
IT HAS TO STOP!
You feel a spark, and then something snaps.
The sound falls to the background as a new sensation fills your senses. It was like hitting the cold water for the first time, everything goes into shock, and for a second, you don't know what you're feeling exactly.
You feel that moment, but it doesn't end.
Instead of your senses filling with sound, the temperature of the room or even the breeze on your face, you feel something else hitting you. It's gentle, barely noticeable, but it's coming from everywhere. Every direction, every part of you is hit with this gentle force. They hit you, but you know that they could be greater.
They were holding themselves back.
All it took… is a little push.
So you reach out a hand, and you push for it.
The horrible sound comes rushing back to you, hitting you like a runaway train. Then, a new sound fills your senses.
The sound of folding metal and shattering glass.
You crack open your eye to see Matthew holding out a hand, white energy cascading over his fingertips. He's looking at you in shock, and honestly, you can't blame him.
You were doing the same thing, just looking at the space between the two of you.
There isn't a glass wall anymore, and there were a few huge chunks of the floor missing as well, like some giant ripped the metal away. And floating in the space between the two of you is a metal ball. It doesn't bob or dip like a balloon. It just stays there, like you pressed the pause button on reality. Looking at it, you feel the faint sensation of weight on your shoulders. It's not physical, but you feel it, like someone strapped a small paper clip to your head.
You imagine throwing it to the side, letting go, and the ball of metal drops to the ground with a thud. You follow it down, your knees hitting the ground with a thud. You don't feel the impact, but you feel yourself shaking.
What… what is happening to you?
You hear your heart beating in your chest as you lift up a shaking hand. It's faint, but it's shining gold.
The same color of vial you took from Doctor Mother.
A shadow passes over you, and you look up to see Matthew. He's not exactly smiling, but he's not angry either.
After what feels like an eternity, he breaks the silence.
"Where do you want me to start?" he asks.
[] "How… how did I do that?"
[] "W-hat happened to me when I was asleep?"
[] "Am I sick?"
[] "W-where am I? Really?"
[] "What was that sound?"
