Ice Princess

34

"These are amazing results and on the third day already over two pounds of adamantium has been collected." Melinoe said looking at the readout. She had to check it several times and reweighed the total samples four times to be sure. This was way over what she expected. She was expected an ounce if they were lucky. She discussed with this Bruce, Bucky was avoiding her thank goodness.

"Perhaps we hit a large vein?" He suggested. "I'm going to take Bucky and we are going to check where the minors are working while they are at lunch. Perhaps that's what we will find."

"This seems too easy and I don't know why. Something is definitely wrong. Be careful." Melinoe told him before Doom arrived.

"Good morning." He told her taking her hand and kissing it.

"It's almost lunch. Late night?" She asked Doom.

"My dear, you have no idea. An unexpected cut of labor has to be done, but an even more promising acquisition will more than make up for it."

"Oh?" She acted interested.

"Don't worry, those who will be cut will be well taken care of, the acquisition will be a difficult one but will yield for future success." Doom had a glimmer in his eye. That glimmer worried her. As soon as the lunch alarm sounded, the miners left the tunnel they were currently working in, Bucky and Bruce started to head down the same tunnel. Doom and Melinoe sat down to eat with the minors. For Melinoe, this was her usual thing to do with the workers. She liked learning about them, however with Doom there they seemed very reserved.

There was a loud pop, then a crash and the area they were in eating filled with smoke and dust. Melinoe went to run towards the tunnel Bruce and Bucky went down and cast a spell out in time, hopefully, to prevent the tunnel from collapsing around them. No one saw it, but she felt two strong arms grab her and pull her backwards.

"They might be in there, they need help." She flayed seeing Doom pulling her back out of the cavern.

"It's not safe. There's nothing we can do." He told her. There was some more loud noises which caught her attention, then she felt a pinch on her shoulder and everything became dark.

___________

"What the hell happened?" Bucky asked Bruce.

"This was planned. This was what Meli was warning us about. Look up. If she hadn't cast that spell in time, we'd be dead right now." There was a seal holding the ceiling in place. Bruce didn't know how long it would last, but they needed to start working on digging their way out before it dissolved. "Start picking up rocks and pile them at the back and along the sides. There's enough room that we won't have to worry about air for a few days."

"A few days?"

"We are at the back of a tunnel over a hundred men were working on for several months. I just hope Meli is working her way towards us."

"And if she's not?"

"If she's safe, she'll do anything to help us. Let's not think of the alternatives."

________

Melinoe felt cold, really cold. Her teeth were chattering. Perhaps an opening in the cavern had reached the surface, she thought. No, it was pitch black. But it did smell like she was underground. Wait, there was a cave in, Bucky, Bruce! She tried to move, her legs, arms, hands, feet, everything worked fine but she was so tired she couldn't get up. And her head was pounding so hard, why was her mouth so dry. Then she heard the drip of water, feeling the moisture in the air. Melinoe could tell she was underground, laying down but couldn't get up. Her stomach growled loudly. Perhaps she was knocked unconscious and was part of the cave in? Come on, move, she told herself. Rolling onto her side and eventually her front, she tried to drag herself along and heard metal scraping along the ground as she moved her arms, but the effort was too much and she soon blacked out again.

How soon she woke up, Melinoe did not know, but she wasn't on the ground anymore. She was on a bed or table, it was flat and she was off the ground. Everything was so hard to focus on, it was like reality had become a huge lava lamp and everything too bright, too dark, and moved in a strange way. Even the sound was distorted. Blinking her eyes and forcing herself to focus she began to make sense of was going on around her. A lab? Why was she in a lab? A hospital, no, definitely a lab. There weren't any other patients. No hospital would have beakers and vials out for patients to see. Melinoe tried to get up, but her limbs weren't moving up much. She called out but only heard the echo of her voice. Still, she was freezing even though she was fully clothed, that she was glad of.

"Oh, my dear, I see you're awake." A dark form walked towards her. The voice she recognized, however he was wearing a metal mask and she could only see his eyes. "You know how you felt sympathetic towards the phantom and if he had the right kind of people to help him he would have turned out alright and not obsessing over Christine?" She nodded. "Unfortunately, he would always be the monster he was meant to be." He laughed at her and she looked so confused.

"Why?"

"See, the first thing.I noticed was you were too intelligent and I wanted you for not only this project but my company as well. Then, with how broken you were already with not having a family and Bucky rebuking you, only made me want to have you even further. You are truly a lovely creature." He tucked a stray hair behind her ear. She tried to shake him away but was too weak. "Oh, you're probably noticing how weak you are. Well, the nice thing about the ore you found is it made a lovely pair of manacles that I have hooked up to these machines. See, little things started to add up about you. Not just the name, but how you interacted with different things. As soon as I have drained you of all your power, I will then have it pumped into me making me more powerful."

"But why? What point?"

"The only thing that talks to me is power. Now, you still have a long way to go, but this will be the last room you see. And while I have solved the riddle of you, I now have a way to look for and capture other gods and demigods and do the same to them. And it is all thanks to you. I couldn't have done it without. See, one invention here, another there, and it all ads up to make what I needed. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you." He left her, at least he left the lights on. Fade in, fade out, over and over again. If she was a sponge she was so dry that she was crumbling. Everything hurt, it hurt to think, to feel, to breathe. Each moment felt like an eternity, she was praying it would be over soon. Her mind so confused, she didn't know what she was saying and called out for her mother and father. Her cries were barely a whisper, her tongue so thick in her mouth, she doubted anything made sense. Even with the lights on a dimness took over her vision.