The Ones They Left Behind ● (Marvel Universe Spinoff)

Chapter 2: Welcome To M.E.R.P.S

M.E.R.P.S- Mutant/Enhanced Rehabilitation Protective Society

Tanis walked to the front door, spun around and strolled back to where Scott was sitting by the kitchen. She did this over and over for a few minutes. Pacing, thinking of a plan. It had been 20 minutes since thousands of people had been turned to dust.
"This is happening everywhere" Scott announced, looking up from his phone as he spun it so she could see. On his screen she saw countless online video uploads, from all over the world. People were vanishing all over, not just in Brooklyn. Not just in America. All over the planet. 
"Tanis what are we going to do? Everyone is gone.... do we just sit and wait to be turned into dust too?"
"Scott you're letting your anxiety get the better of you." She reminded him, pacing back and forth once again, every now and then glancing up at the family photos that remained hung on the wall closest to the entrance. Admiring the photographs of her mother, father and older brothers, Tanis felt a sudden wave of sadness take over her body. They were all gone. Dead. 
"You need to stay calm whilst I... think of what to do."
"There's nothing we can do! People are dying, we're gonna be next so we may aswell just sit here and wait for it to happen."
"Scott!" The sudden raise of her tone made him jump. "We are not giving up. We just need to find help. We could go to New York.... we could find the avengers..."
"Tanis you've seen the news! Tony Stark is missing, has been for two days now!"

She'd forgotten about this. Earth's mightiest heroes were no more. Iron Man had disappeared into the upper atmosphere whilst climbing aboard a suspect alien war craft just 48 hours ago. Perhaps he was trying to prevent this. Maybe Mr Stark knew what was going to happen and he was trying to stop all of this. But then, maybe he'd failed. The world was ending and there was no one out there who could help them. They were out of options.
Tanis took a seat beside her brother, leaning against the wall. Letting her head fall into her hands she sighed deeply. They were all alone. No parents. No authority. No rules. 
How long were they going to hide away inside before they faced up to what was unfolding around them? Would things go back to normal? She highly doubted that. 
"Tanis" Scott whispered calmly, placing his hand onto her arm slowly. She didn't move. All of this stress was sure to trigger another powerful meltdown, which she wanted to prevent. 
"Tanis." He spoke to her again, but this time he sounded panicked. On edge, like he was desperate to alert her to something. 

Looking up from her hands she saw the gaze of wonder upon his face, as he watched the ceiling above them. He was fixed on the one single light bulb in the hallway. Flickering wildly. Getting faster by the second. 
"What the..."
"Shhhh!!" He interrupted her. "Can you hear that?" 
They both stared up at the ceiling, it was shaking. The floor beneath them felt like it was switched to vibrate. Tanis looked at Scott as their bodies began to tremble unwillingly. Something was happening, an earthquake perhaps. If this was the end of the world then a natural disaster wouldn't come as a surprise to them. 
Abruptly, it came to a stop. Tanis and Scott steadied themselves, their bodies still tingling from the movements. Was it over? 

Out of nowhere, the front door came crashing down, followed by a flurry of bright lights. Tanis didn't move as she covered her eyes, it was so bright she couldn't see a soul.
"Do not move!" A strong male voice ordered. "Stay where you are!"
Before she could even glance at her captor, her body fell weak. A sharp shock, almost like electricity burned into her neck, seizing all movement. She was out cold, unconscious. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tanis awoke suddenly. She shot up, so she was upright again opposed to lying in a heap on the cold, hard floor. The first thing she felt was pain in the left hand side of her neck, just below her ear. It was a dull aching pain, similar to a sore. Using her left hand, she placed it over the sensitive area. That's when she felt it. Hard, circular. Cold like metal. A small disc like implant into the skin of her neck. Taking great care she tried to dislodge it using her thumb nail. She twinged, it was clearly causing her great discomfort. There was no way she'd be able to remove this herself. Perhaps who ever had implanted it, could take it away. 
She was so distracted by the affliction, she had not noticed her new surroundings. This wasn't her home. She was no longer cowering, hiding on the floor of her hallway. She was definitely not in Brooklyn anymore. 
Confused she began to observe the room she found herself inside. Floor to ceiling and every wall was the brightest shade of white. Shiny, almost clean looking. It reminded her of a medical based room, the type where surgery would be performed because it looked so damn polished. She was sat on what looked to be a bed. Small, with white thin sheets and a pillow to the right hand side of her. Just one. Not the kind of bed you'd want to stay more than one night in. It didn't look very inviting. 
Over in the far corner of the room she noticed what seemed to be a door. Before she could get up to inspect it, she saw a shadow move from the corner of her eye. Turning swiftly to see it, she felt relieved at the sight of her brother. Scott. One arm wrapped around his abdomen, he was clearly in pain. 
"Where are we?" He was evidently trying to come round from being knocked out for who knows how long. "Tanis, are you ok?" 
She nodded calmly, smiling as she looked down at her brother who was alive and well. She was  grateful that she was no longer alone in this strange place. 
"I'm fine, apart from this thing." Pointing to the disc still attached to her neck, Scott immediately checked his own. Not surprisingly, he also acquired one. Maybe they were some sort of tracking device, a way of monitoring heart rates etc. Some sort of medical tool. Tanis assumed by now that they were in some sort of hospital. The last thing she remembered were the lights. The lights and the shaking. Almost like thunder, it made her tremble just thinking about it. 
"I don't know where we are." She informed her brother. Taking small steps around the room, she inspected it more. Looking for any clue, any way of figuring out where they were. Perhaps even, looking for a way out. "I think we're in hospital."
"I've never seen a hospital room like this one." Scott scoffed. "And I've seen a fair few. There isn't even any windows or doors." 
Tanis made her way over to the widest wall, examining it closely. "Good point." She agreed. "What kind of place has a room..."
Running her hands slowly over the chilly, dense wall, she triggered something. A button or switch of some kind. Whatever she'd touched had caused the wall to separate. It was split horizontally and was pulling away from itself either sides. It was opening. 
"With no windows." Tanis added, looking at Scott with a sense of accomplishment. She'd discovered a trap door, or a secret passageway. A young Sherlock Holmes in the making.