Rise from the Ashes

Chapter 4: Round 2

Flashing her eyes open, the sterilized white medical room sent chills down her spine. Rattling her wrists, the velcro scratched against her raw skin, sharply inhaling allowed her to feel deep stitches stab her flailing lungs.

'Motherfucker, that hurts,' she growled internally. 'Why is the video so important?'

Slowly she searched, within her limited vision, for Dr. Travis. Em breathed, not finding her or her shadow.

'It shows Mike killing someone and reveals Ms. Cyrus as inhuman, but other than that - ugh, my head is spinning.'

Pressing her head against the stable bed frame slowed the tumbling world. Letting her gaze travel around the room once more, she noticed the once blood-stained tools freshly cleaned with a hint of bleach burning her nose.

'Whatever their reason is, if I tell them I took the video, they'll kill me, and if I don't, then I'll die keeping my secret,' she reasoned. 'It'd keep Kida and Luke safe. That's the most important thing.'

The steel door cracked open, revealing Dr. Travis followed by Benito and Mike, the three horsemen. Her cold, stern gaze burned into Mike's face as he stayed by the door while Benito and Dr. Travis approached her bedside. Em stayed silent, focusing most of her attention on Mike while keeping Benito in her peripheral vision.

"You've been quite an annoyance to us, and before I rip those abilities from your worthless body, I need one simple question answered," Mike explained as Dr. Travis pulled out more velcro restraints.

Em froze as her hateful gaze turned fear-induced within seconds. Small shivers crawled down her spine as she fought to keep her breathing even.

'How much about my abilities does he know about?' she fearfully wondered. 'He pulled police records. One of those reports leads to my medical record. So hopefully, he thinks only my body was affected by the Gas.'

"You see, you're the only one who knows who recorded the video, the one thing that can crumble everything I've built. So you are going to tell us who they are right now," Mike declared.

"Haha," Em laughed, a light flickering on in the back of her mind as she finally realized why the video was so important.

"You think this is funny?" Mike snarled.

"Hilarious because I've been strapped here trying to figure out why that video was so fucking important to you, now I see why," she explained as a smile curled her lips. "Because it doesn't just show you committing murder or exposing your multiple identities. But it shows that you married an inhuman, the one thing you're profiting off. It shows weakness, so if you think I'll talk, you're wrong because why waste an opportunity to watch you crumble by your own damn marriage."

Mike stood frozen, surprised that she had figured out his secret.

'Now the tables have turned,' she maliciously thought as her corrupt smile grew.

"Break her," Mike ordered in a raging fury.

'Oh fuck,' Em realized as Benito grabbed her right arm.

"Get off," she revolted, squirming under Benito's deadly grasp.

Releasing her raw wrists from the velcro restraints, Benito pulled up a metal railing from the side of the bed that usually secures a patient in place when the medical bed is moving. Whipping her weak arm around, she attempted to release herself as Benito collapsed more restraints from Dr. Travis around her arm, locking her to the metal railing.

"Dr, the Repellent," Benito requested as her vein lay exposed.

"No," Em protested, attempting to lung forward. But her stitches sent ripples of pain flowing through her body before she could get close to Benito.