Tribulations

Chapter 1-Ignorance is bliss. Consciousness is horror.

Song for this chapter-In the house in a heartbeat from 28 days later

Tw! Sensory deprivation?, Terrorism?, Explosions, Non-Consentual drug use.

Tang Xuan loves the public, when they weren't stopping him from doing his job properly that is. If someone was to chat to him once or twice he wouldn't be bothered but at festivals like this it made his work so much harder. A festival coming to the city usually meant a very long day for the young esper, making sure nobody was up to any suspicious activities and having to be constantly alert. Tang Xuan let out a sigh and checked down the alley he was walking past, stopping for a moment before dipping into it so it's investigation didn't interrupt the flow of people walking behind him.

His eyes scanned up and down,right and left but saw no one and nothing.
He was about to leave the alley but a spark above on the building to his right caught his eye at the last second.

At that moment an explosion shattered the sky above him, throwing the rubble of the building across into the alley and the street. He struck the rubble with his staff, only getting hit once in the shoulder by a sliver of glass. He turned to re-enter the street but by now all that was visible was nauseating smoke and all that was audible was his own breathing and the muffled cries of civilians. He could no longer tell which way he was facing and the lack of vision was only exacerbated by the dizziness the smoke had caused and the lack of clean air in the confined space.

He found a wall and traced it but even that only confused him further. He fell forward into the ruins of the building and cut his hand on the rubble only just saving himself before he fell into a patch of flames. Gasping and coughing as he scrambled for a way onto the Main Street, panic erupted as exhaustion and black tiptoed into the corners of his vision. He kept close to the ground so he could at least see the ruins and not just greys and whites which seemed like a good idea.

That it was until he felt a heel strike his back, sharp pain hit his spine and his cries sang in unison with the fearful screeches outside. He gathered his strength desperately in an attempt to stand but the heel struck down again and he heard a devastating crack along with a realisation that he was unable to help those outside. That hurt more than anything and he felt a dark crushing sensation around his heart like his chest was being strangled. He felt the person pick him up and the sting of a needle entering his upper arm. He with what he had thought would be his last moments of consciousness that it might've been a sleeping agent but if anything it made him more alert.

The black crept further into his vision but his mind was racing and alert to the words of the person, a woman.
"The 3rd adaptation of the drug appears to have quickened Subject 19's thoughts and made him more alert while still acting as a paralyser like on other esper subjects."
Tang Xuan panicked at these words though relief then returned when a few words crackled through the coms he had presumed broken even though they were hard to understand they included the street he had been on and had he been able to move a wistful smile would have briefly flashed on the espers' face. It crackled to life further and he was able to recognise the distorted voice on the other end. "Ch__f T__g———Posi__ion?" Raven firmly spoke but Xuan was unable to understand. Then the same message repeated more desperately. Li Ling's voice over the comma was also recognisable though his words were so distorted he could barely make out a sound.

The Woman removed her heel from his back but swiftly replaced it with a knee on a lower part and Xuan let out an embarrassing and raspy whimper.
Her voice started up again "amount of power in power reserves for Subject 19 has not changed unlike previous experiments, however this may change upon second dose." If he had tensed then Tang Xuan wouldn't have been able to tell, the only things he was able to feel being the sensation of liquid being injected into his veins and the hotness of his ears and behind his eyes. Except now he couldn't even let out even the shortest cry, the sounds around him quieted and he could barely hear any words from the woman and he heard only crackles from his comms, no words intelligible anymore. He let out a shaky barley existent breath. The darkness in his eyes got sick of stealthily invading his vision and he was left unable to see even the ground his face was resting against. He laid there, all senses gone but still horribly conscious not even aware when the smoke warped and ripped him off of the ground and into a place no one knew.