Acceleration

Chapter 29: Corporate Capture

"Wake up fraud," Erin's voice pierced his own ears. He opened his crusty eyes. He was pinned to a strange wall. His arms were pinned, and large metal clamps were strapped to his wrist. Similar devices attached his legs to the wall, and his chest had a large cover over it. He could feel tiny pinpricks near his heart, needles shoved into his body.

He looked to the side, noticing Revnid, pinned precisely as he was.

"Damn, I was hoping that the whole situation was a bad dream."

"You can't get rid of me that easily," Revnid replied. Despite having his mask on, his voice wasn't the nightmarish it usually was. Erin realized his mask was on as well.

"Any clue where we are?"

Revnid didn't respond, simply staring up at a large window on the other side of the room. Erin could see figures watching them, writing things down on clipboards. In the center of the group was a woman, around the age of Erin's aunt. She had fiery orange hair that was placed in a bob cut. There was an aura of respect around her, something Erin could tell from the way the scientists around her moved.

The woman tapped a microphone on the desk in front of her, clearing her throat. Erin could hear the details through the PA system that sat in their room.

"Hello, friends."

The duo remained quiet.

"You can respond, there are microphones in the room."

Neither did.

"Stubborn as always, I understand," she had a soft smile, one that masked the smugness she held, "We've been looking for you both since you showed up on television. Would you like to know why?"

"Sure," Erin finally answered. Revnid looked at him in anger, like he was ruining his plan to annoy these people.

"You may not know it, but blood is not something that is in your body anymore. It's purely a liquid metal, one called Vornium. We can't exactly extract any from where it comes from normally, but you two have an abundance in your body. You produce it naturally. So, we unfortunately need to... harvest some."

"And who are you to decide that this is more important than our lives?"

"I'm the Director of course," she smiled, "I started this company with the intention of helping people, but one speedster refused to help us, and the two people who had an abundance of Vornium vanished. One took off into a plane, and vanished with a flash of light."

Erin swallowed. She was talking about his Dad.

"So I'm very sorry we have to do this," she said, pointing at something behind her. A line of blood bags. Erin realized his blood, or whatever was mimicking it, was being drained.

"They're squeezing us dry," Revnid muttered, seemingly to himself. Erin realized the lightheadedness he felt wasn't from the fight earlier, but the drawing of blood he was currently receiving. The Director walked away from the window, exiting through a door that led to some bright hallway.

Erin pulled, trying to tear the restraints off the metal he was trapped on, but his strength had diminished.

"How long have we been out for?"

Revnid shook his head, "No idea. There aren't any clocks in here."

Erin looked around, trying to find any fault in their prison system.

"This is your fault," Revnid groaned. Erin turned his head in shock.

"My fault? YOU kidnapped ME!"

"YOU TOOK MY LIFE!"