Retaliation

Chapter 6 Dust

It has been months since I was captured. 

I am subjected to multiple tortures a day, all of which I knew about beforehand through my visions. Today was no different. Right on time, my guards opened my cell to escort me. I locked eyes with Col as I stumbled out of my cell. 

His wounds were getting worse as his body isn't given enough time to recover from the last beatings. Despite being physically broken, he still maintained his hard spirit. On the rare occasion we get to exchange words, he asks if I see anything that could result in a possible escape. Sadly, I always had the same answer. His response is always the same as well, calling me useless and a waste of potential. Even though I still blame DRAKO and was still trying to convince myself that what happened wasn't my fault, I can't help but think about the truth behind his words. 

If you're constantly told something enough times eventually you start to believe it. 

I pass by Ryrni's cell. She was slouched down on the floor in the corner of the far right-hand side. She lifted her head to look at me, giving me a weak smile and I return one to her. I thought she was skinny before, but she was nothing but skin and bones now. It looked like she could turn to dust at any second, the only thing giving her a small boost are the small rations Dramik brings. The poor thing was only one of the few Skrull prisoners left. All of the ones I saw before are no longer with us. Most of the new ones they bring in disappear as soon as they appear.

It isn't too much longer till we reach our destination, Lab 20. I've become very familiar with this room and the torture it brings me. The electric shocks and injections are temporary, however, watching the monitors and scientists study my brain and figuring out a way to copy my ability terrified me. 

I've been slowly watching them make progress. They figured out that the most common triggers are if my body is or is about to be in physical danger. They think it is very likely that my visions also lead me to important events or people that I am supposed to meet. I'm not sure how they came to that conclusion since I don't understand a thing but it was heart sinking all the less.  

Imagine how good that feels when you couldn't have prevented yourself from getting captured like it was destiny. That you were meant to aid a dangerous group of aliens trying to take over the universe. They constantly rub it in my face. 

It...is my fault. 

Luckily for me, they're really struggling with the "how" part. Even though they can see different parts of my brain spike in activity when I have a vision they can't figure out how the stress chemicals and hormones result in a vision or even how they release as they go before the stressor even appears. 

They predict the answer lies in cortisol, the primary stress hormone that does many things to the body including; raising blood sugar, repairing tissues, determining what systems are nonessential at the time so the brain can focus and use more energy, as well as control moods like motivation and fear. Thinking about it hurts me just as much as the electric shocks do. 

I walked up to my torturous throne, unwillingly ready to get strapped down, but I stopped in my tracks when foresight took over. I thought it was the normal precognition of the harmful experiment to soon take place but I was wrong. As I sat down one of the guards suddenly just started to fade away. He cried out in panic as his partner caught him in his arms only for the particles to disappear as well. His comrade sat there on his knees, confused as to what just played out in front of him in a matter of seconds. He turned his head towards me, being that I couldn't see his face behind his helmet I had no idea what emotion he was expressing at me.

I flashed back to my present. I had no idea how to play this vision out. What even happened? How do you just dissolve into thin air? I had no time to think of an explanation as the same events began to play out in front of me.