Sapphire Angel - Superheroine

Prologue

Twenty-one was too young to die. The burly guards in black uniforms hadn't told him they would kill him, before seizing him by the shoulders and dragging him from his cell, but Russell Harrison knew. He hadn't been the first they had dragged away, screaming into the night. None of the others had ever returned.

The men tightened their hold on his arms, and he didn't resist. During his weeks of confinement, they had crushed his strength and his will. Even at full health, he wouldn't have stood a chance against these brutes, dressed in their black military garb, and with weapons holstered at their sides. And if he somehow got past them, they were not alone. Men in white lab coats walked behind them, and they could have held assault rifles instead of their clipboards, as weak as he was.

A massive man in a tailored suit led the way, pausing when he reached a massive metal door. The dim lights of the hall glistened off the tight afro on his head, as he swiped a card before a panel on the cinderblock wall. A chirp sounded, and he pushed the door open.

They carried Russell into a square room, about thirty feet across, containing a large glass cylinder in the middle. Twenty feet tall and half as wide, the cylinder resembled a massive test tube. Blue and yellow lights blinked on the surface of its metal base, and several hoses and levers crowded the surface. Russell couldn't take his eyes off it.

The men half-dragged, half-carried Russell to the cylinder, opening a glass door built into its curved surface. One of them yanked the gag off his mouth and shoved him inside. As he tumbled to the floor, they closed the door behind him.

Silence enveloped him. Through the glass, he saw the mouths of some men moving but heard no words. The men moved to a door on the opposite side of the room and disappeared through it.

The seconds ticked by, and Russell's fate crushed down on him. He stumbled to the glass door of the cylinder and pushed, but it didn't move. He looked for a handle or lock, but saw no hardware.

And then the rumbling started. All around him, the entire cylinder vibrated. Russell spun, trying to find some escape from his prison. There was none. He dropped to his knees as the vibration intensified, until the entire cylinder shook like his own personal earthquake.

The torment followed. As a golden light filled the cylinder, a searing pain erupted in his chest and a tortured cry escaped his mouth. He fought the burning inside him, as if to repress it, knowing that to give in to the agony would be the end of him. But it was no use. As the light burst inside the cylinder, illuminating the room like the midday sun, a final scream tore from his lips.

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HELLO! Thank you for reading the prologue of my book, Sapphire Angel -- Superheroine. She's been kicking around in my head for years, so I'd love to hear your feedback. In the next part, Chapter 1, we'll meet our protagonist, Beth Harper.

Feedback is the fuel that keeps writers going (even amateur ones), so If you can, please fill in that little, empty star in the corner if you liked this first chapter. And of course I'd love to see your comments.

~CJ