TOXIC ~ STEVE ROGERS [1]

Chapter Nine

I was in a large concrete bunker, and I front of me stood a tennis ball thrower.

"This is what I'm using for the test? A tennis ball thrower?" I said sarcastically to Fitzsimmons, who sat behind a glass window to the right of me.

"It's too dangerous for us to actually throw things at you, so yes, this is what we're using," Fitz replied, spinning some dials. I had electrodes connected to my temples, my chest, arms and back. It was to 'moniter my energy output' as Fitz said. They all connected to a small metal disk wrapped around my waist.

I sized up the thrower in front of me.

"Alright, I'm going to turn it on now," Fitz yelled, and pressed a button in front of him.

The ball sailed towards me, and although I put up my hands nothing happened, and it bonked me in the head. I turned and narrowed my eyes at Fitz, who visibly gulped.

"Uh, just try that again," he said timidly, looking away. I shook my head and kept the thrower in my sights, bending my legs. The pins and needles were there in my veins but I didn't feel that pull like I had before, like a tether pulling energy from my hands into the air. I concentrated, focusing on the emotions I had had when I first did it. Anger. Fear. Adrenaline. I was almost always angry, a trait I didn't share with my family, but a rage of my own, filled with leather and blood and the smell of antiseptic.

A tennis ball came shooting out of the cannon, heading straight for me.
I was still unsure of what to do, but with a bubbly rage in my chest I threw up my hands, eyes blazing and teeth gritted.

Instead of blasts of white green light from my hands, I got a shield of translucent green around me, circular in shape. The tennis ball hit it, and disintegrated into fine ash.

The disk on my waist went beserk, beeping and flashing lights. I dropped my hands, stunned, and turned to Fitzsimmons who had just run into the room. Fitz grabbed the disk, and looked at the readings on it.

"Oh my God Jemma, look at this," he said, passing the disk to her. She gasped.

"What?" I asked. Simmons was frantically scribbling in her notebook. Fitz looked up at me, his eyes twinkling.

"Well, based on these readings, the maximum amount of energy you could emit would be equal to that of a nuclear bomb."

I backed up against the wall, suddenly nauseous. My limbs felt stiff, like the joints had been filled with glue.

"Ok ok, so I'm not a ball of poison, no, I'm a fricking nuclear bomb!" I yelled.

"You only have the potential to emit that amount of energy. But if you did you wouldn't survive it," Simmons said reassuringly. "It would drain you. I believe the force field you just created drains your energy faster than just creating energy blasts. Energy blasts are just short bursts of energy, while holding up a wall of energy takes a lot more strength," she continued. "You probably shouldn't try anything for a few hours. Go get some rest," Simmons nodded at Fitz and he moved over to me. He gently took the electrodes off of my skin.

"I'll take you to your room," he said kindly. I nodded numbly, and followed him through the facility.

When we reached my room, he opened my door for me, and I walked in. Just before he closed the door, I called it to him.

"Fitz?"

"Yes Keight?" He replied.

"Do you think it would be ok for me to smoke in here?" I asked.

"Smoke?"

"Yeah, a cigarette," Fitz's face lit up.

"Yes, smoke. That's a great idea," He said thoughtfully, before shutting the door behind me. I heard the lock click. So, I was locked in.

I lit up a cigarette, and took a long drag. The chemicals filled my lungs, and I instantly felt relief from the nausea I'd felt before. I lay down on the bed, and looked up at the ceiling. It was stark white, just like the rest of this place.

I hated white. It reminded me of hospitals, of antiseptic and bandages and pain. My hair was white blonde, and I'd considered dying it a different colour. But I never did, because it was part of what made me, me.

Now I wasn't sure who or what I was.

After I finished the cigarette, I played Candy crush for about 2 hours on my phone, besting my high score and leaving my phone battery at 9%. I plugged it in again. The time was 3:46pm, and I realized I hadn't had lunch. Maybe they only served 2 meals a day here. I wasn't that hungry, do I decided today to explore the small white bathroom that connected to my room, and possibly have a shower. My hair was greasy and knotted, and I was sure I had at least 4 layers of dirt covering my skin.

I stripped off, first making sure there weren't any cameras in the bathroom like there were in the main room. I stepped into the small shower cubicle, and turned in the water. It was hot, which was a bonus, and there were small bottles of shampoo and conditioner and a bar of unused soap sitting on a glass shelf. I lathered the shampoo in my hair, and rinsed the bubbles over my body. While the conditioner was in my hair, I washed myself with the strawberry scented soap. I let the hot water run over me, washing away troubles and worries and making me feel more alive than I had since a day ago. After a long half hour, I dried myself and put on my dirty ripped clothes, feeling much better.

I was still a murderous walking nuclear bomb, but I felt better about it.

I walked out of the bathroom just in time to hear a commotion outside my door. I rushed to the window, and saw people running through the hallways. I banged on the glass.

"Hey! What's going on?" I yelled. But the glass must have been soundproof and the people running were too focused on the problem to notice me.

I retreated back to the bed, and sat on it. My hands were tingling, but now I had realized they would probably always be that way.  I waved at the camera in the corner of the room.

"Can anyone hear me? What's going on?" I yelled, but to no avail. I paced the length of the room, occasionally glancing out the window to see either no one or groups of people. I started chewing the skin around my fingers, a sure sign of increasing stress.

No one came, no one spoke, and eventually, there were no more people walking past my window.

Just silence.

Authors Note
So, here we are at the beginning of everything. Keight is about to be part of something incredible, but who knows what side she will take??