Regnum: Children of War

Chapter 3: A Force On Earth

Chapter 3:
3:33 AM
Claustrum Institutes
85 feet beneath the Regnum castle

"You will receive three square meals a day so long as you submit to the doctors and are not undergoing punishment. A scientist will come get you for breakfast, lunch and dinner but you will be blind folded to ensure as little resistance as possible."

Subject R nodded along with Michael's words but he knew better than to assume she was attaining any of his information. Her unfocused eyes stared down at her hands, folded neatly in her lap as she struggled with the suddenness of her new reality.

M always tried to remember his own first day when he filled the new kids in, it made him more sympathetic and understanding when they ignored him and all his efforts. But it became harder with time as the years tugged at his ability to recall like a wave kissing the shore and dragging shards of shell back into its salty depths. He always assumed something that traumatic would forever remain in him but Mikey was young and had spent the entirety of his childhood in this underground prison. Still, he remembered some and he grasped at the broken pieces of his memory.

One of his first surgeries had brought on enhanced memory but the extent of his power was limited mostly to orders, rules, names, and even a few insignificant details in his life. He could picture his room back at the orphanage perfectly. He remembered where the sun's rays fell on his torn and stained carpet in the first minutes of daylight. He remembered all of Mr. Lovell's expressions, as he had learned to read them all that time ago—the way his eyebrows sunk heavily over his chocolate eyes when he was angry, or the way his lips thinned when he was curious or how his pupils shrunk on the rare occasions of his remorse.

But then there were things Subject just couldn't bring back in full. He wasn't sure what Barnaby had done that first day they met, just that it was him. He didn't know what that first new kid, Subject F, had looked like. Or the one after that. He didn't remember the other boys at the orphanage, only able to remember a single name—David—who he vaguely knew to be his past best friend.

The experiments were good and the surgeries were successful. But never faultless. Never perfect.

"There are five scientists that I know of though I'm sure there're more," he continued monotonously. "Dr. Bayliss handles daily prescriptions, which you won't have to worry about until your powers develop, and other forms of medication. McGee does a lot of the experiments and punishments, watch out for him. Do as he says and exactly how he says to do it. Gifford performs most of the surgeries, tread extra careful around him as well. He looks friendly but he's ruthless and blind in his pursuit. Chelsea mostly works outside the Institute; she invents a lot of our medication but not all. She doesn't come around often but when she does—those are the best days. She usually brings treats and candy from outside and disagrees heavily with the way Arden is conducting our warfront. Then there's Barnaby St. James who is kind of the ring leader when the king isn't around, which is honestly pretty often."

Rose dragged her restless gaze to M, her eyebrows drawn in. "Um . . . when . . . when will my . . . powers d-develop?"

"It kind of depends. I know for me it took about a month after my first surgery to give me superhuman strength but my second surgery for kinetic absorption—which is basically just fancy talk for 'speed'— took only a few weeks. However, Subject H had his first ability within days," he explained, keeping his tone carefully neutral. "It just sort of varies."

From the corner of his eye—he refused to look at her lest he feel a hopeless budding friendship for the girl—he saw her pale and lick her lips. "And when will I have my first surgery?"