Subject Zero (COMPLETED)

Thirty

Malakai

Ropes hugged Kai tightly as his eyes fluttered open.

He tried to lick his chapped lips, but something was covering his entire mouth, and from the sticky and rough feeling he knew it was duct tape. His brain noted other parts on his body that did not feel normal, like something covering his hands, and the same feeling of duct tape wrapped over his wrists.

He was tired. He was so tired and wanted to droop his head forward and sleep again, but the creaking of steps on wooden floors distracted his desire for rest. He tried to turn his head, but a thick and itchy piece of rope only pressed tightly against his neck, and he surrendered; he hated the slight feeling of suffocation. It reminded him of the chain against his neck when he was first in Bonavich's clutch.

He did manage to avert his eyes as far as he could, scanning the area. He realized his hands were cuffed behind him, and that he was sitting on an old wooden chair. He looked down and saw a tangle of ropes wrapped around him, all lined up and knotted in place all the way down to his shoes. He turned his head just a little and tried to catch a peek of his hands.

Big work gloves covered his hands, so big that Kai's hands were basically swallowed up by the gloves. Duct tape wrapped around the ends of them, connecting to his wrist, so they wouldn't slip off. And maybe to secure and detain his power. He looked forward at the wooden wall, stained with discoloration and dust.

The creaking of the floorboards stopped, but a strong voice replaced it.

"Can you use your power through those gloves?"

It was a husky voice, and Kai thought it to be familiar. His mind was clouded, but he matched the voice to the sound of an engine. A fore-wheeler.

Kai tried to move his hands and use his power, but he couldn't. He shook his head slowly, keeping his eyes forward.

"We're armed," the man threatened. "You're too far away for anyone to hear and you're easily outnumbered and overpowered. You won't try to escape, you got that?"

Kai nodded, although his eyelids wanted to close and he wanted to escape from this reality again. The drug in his body was still lingering, as the horrible aching pain in his chest. He found it hard to breathe.

Ah, that's right. Kai remembered exactly what happened. The hit to his chest. The man with the ginger beard, and the smaller shadow...

They appeared right in front of him, and Kai managed a glance between his two new captors.

The man was large; muscles nearly ripped through his black short sleeve shirt, all the way down to his forearms. There was no spot on his bare skin that wasn't covered in black ink. His beard was large, long, but his hair was covered by a black baseball cap. Kai risked a glance into his eyes and regretted it; dark orbs seeped into him, through him, it felt. Kai quickly averted his eyes to his other captor.

The woman's blonde hair was in dreadlocks, tangled and knotted all the way down her back. She was much smaller then the male, but there was still prominent muscles through her dirty white tank-top. She was larger than Kai. Unlike the mans black tattoos, her's were vibrant and colorful, but now faded from the sun and appearing wrinkles. One of them caught his eye, but the man cleared his throat and Kai brought his attention back to him.

Lazily, though. It was almost as if Kai was in slow motion, his movements and thoughts awfully delayed. Every breath he took sounded like a whine, and his chest burned, inside and out.

The man snapped his finger in his face, forcing Kai to blink and lift his head up again. He looked at the giant, who's eyes were as dark as his tattoos. "You're Subject Zero, correct?"