Redesign Me, State of the Art (Jalex)

Just Enough Time to Plan an Escape Route

Jack's POV

Dead was the first thing that came to mind. I was positive that I was dead:

They had figured out that there was no use for me or my powers and decided that I was too dangerous to live in normal life; so they killed me.

I was confused however, because I felt very much alive. I could feel my skin shake and shiver as chilled air pumped into whatever room I was in. My mind was heavy and throbbing in a drunken, hungover feeling state and I was simply tired.

Very quickly I was able to conclude that I was incapable of movement. Not in the sense that I couldn't wiggle my fingers and toes, but that I was secured to a bed. Not only was my left hand cuffed to it with the recognizable, mechanical, white bracelet; but there were also four leather belts with buckles at the ends strapped across my forehead, chest, midsection, and ankles.

I wriggled against them with no success. Figures. They'd never put me in something they thought I could get out off. The whole contraption seemed a bit archaic really. I pictured a lab testing table from a secret government facility to be more futuristic looking and like a weird scene straight from Doctor Who or some shit.

My stomach suddenly rolled over and I was now convinced that I really was experiencing a killer hangover. Could my body not get a fucking break? As I futilely tried to turn my head to the side and puke my guts out, I caught a glance of something in my lazily moving sight that suppressed the vomiting. Instead, my blood ran cold.

There were medical instruments of all shapes and sizes and different levels of scary. I was having some serious flashbacks to recent horror movies I'd seen and was not particularly looking forward to the impending torture. I continued straining my eyes to see it all, since they had stuck me facing directly upwards. There was a subtle click of a door opening on the other side of the room, and I suddenly didn't know which thing to be more afraid of.

"Looks like we're right back where we started huh?" The familiarity of the voice made my stomach churn all over again. "Now, what was the purpose of all that chasing? This incessant game of cat and mouse you've put us both in is pointless, honestly. Carter thought it was a good idea, but I... I never really did. You were going to end up back here anyway."

His smug arrogance made my fingers clench in useless fists and my urge to escape slithered it's way out through my body's jerking movements. Peter had such a way of getting to me and I was once again in the position of being powerless against him.

"Oh Jack. Always so angry," he coddled, leaning over the table so I could finally get a good look at his face.

It felt like ages since I had last seen him. I wrestled my body against the straps again, receiving just as much success as I had a couple of seconds ago. He sighed, shaking his head and lightly trailing a slim, evil hand across the restraints.

"They're old school, I know. But hey, gets the job done nonetheless." He studied my face and I couldn't help but focus on his eyes. They looked too much like Alex's. His swift fingers moved to roughly grip the sides of my cheeks, digging uncut fingernails into them. "She was right about you," he finally concluded with a smile, casting my face slightly to the side and releasing his handle on it.

Who was she? I tried demanding an answer, but wasn't able to force words out of my mouth. I kept opening it, only to utter strangled noises and high pitched struggles. My gut tightened, trying to force air out into speech.

"Yeah. That'd be the chip placed on your neck right... there," Peter tapped a small, raised, metal spot on my skin. "Cuts off any function to the vocal chords. Just something we've been working on."

He slowly started to walk away and I wanted to scream for answers; for someone to tell me where I was or why I was here. The lack of verbal communication was one of the most frustrating things I'd ever experienced. He was soon out of my sight and near the exit again. I was so close to freedom that I could feel the breeze of warm air coming in from the hallway. I couldn't see him, but I had a feeling Peter smiled before he shut the door; leaving me hopelessly alone with my thoughts.

~

Alex's POV

It happened again. I let it happen again. I let him fall right back into the hands of the corporation that had simultaneously destroyed our lives.

My brain went into over drive. I wouldn't allow myself to break down, so instead I turned off all emotion and became solely focused on taking down B.N.E. once and for all. I informed Tay about the Jack situation in as little words as possible, not really feeling like reliving everything that had just happened upstairs. We agreed that it wasn't an option to just wait around for them to do something else to us and that we had to take action immediately.

Tensions were high, so even though somebody, presumably Vic, had moved Kellin's body out of the meeting room, most people didn't feel comfortable doing anything in there. So that's how we ended up in the dining hall, surrounding a couple of the lunch tables without attached benches that had been pushed together. The conversation had pretty much gone back and forth between Tay, Rian, Zack, and I.

"Well we can't just storm right in," Rian was trying to reason.

"Why the hell not? In case you forgot, we are the ones with the super powers, not them," Zack argued.

"No, I agree with Rian. Walking right through the front door is risky. There are too many things that could go wrong. We have to come up with something smarter," Tay inputted.

"Of course she agrees with him," Zack grumbled.

"I have my own opinions dickwad," Tay spat back. The two of them soon launched into a heated fight, using words similar to "dickwad" to describe each other. I quickly realized that this wasn't working.

"Actually storming the front might not be the worst idea," I finally piped up between one of the many insults. I hated to give Zack any more ammunition to think that I liked him, but I had a plan brewing in the back of my mind.

"You got a theory?" Rian quickly leaped onto the question, thankful that I had interrupted the quarrel between his two best friends.

"Yeah, actually."

"Alright let's hear it," he prompted. I could feel the anxiety of all the tension start to rise in my throat, but worked to shut it out and center my thoughts on how Jack must be feeling ten times worse right now. My resolve strengthened and I knew that I had to get him out of there.

"Well, like Zack pointed out, we have the super powers, they don't. I think we should make a list of everyone's and find a use for them all. We can determine our assets and utilize them to our advantage. If somebody is good with computers, we can hack B.N.E.'s interface and look up floor plans so we know exactly what we're walking into and how to work with it. We'll print and draw everything out so we can see it visually and hopefully organize our thoughts better to come up with new suggestions instead of just standing here arguing about it," I directed the last sentence toward Zack and Tay. She huffed and crossed her arms while Zack shamefully looked at the floor.

I had a more thorough and thought out idea, but this is where we needed to start for now. I looked around at the rest of the crowd, their body language wholly indicating that they were down for whatever I directed them to do. A solemn Vic suddenly appeared by my side, like a soldier preparing for battle.

"I'll get the paper," was all he said.

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i told you comments give me life to write quicker (even if it's a short filler chapter).

p.s. has anyone figured out what B.N.E. stands for (just wondering, clues are everywhere just look for them)?

-emma

song credit: Escape Route - Paramore (wow that chapter title is harshly spot on)