Breach

The walls were rough. The rags he wore were rough. Even the air scratched at the walls of his lungs. His dirty hair hung from his head, obstructing his vision. Not that there was anything to see, his containment cell was always the same gray concrete, and the fluorescent bulb hanging from the ceiling always flickered in the same irritating pattern.

“Rise and shine Felix,” A muffled voice from behind the steel door exclaimed. There was a click of the lock, and it opened, revealing a large man holding a series of thick shackles marked with peculiar symbols. “Time for morning tests.”

The emaciated boy raised his head slowly, staring at the man with eyes that would look more at home on a corpse than on a living thing.

“Come on man, don’t do it,” The man sighed, pulling a cattle prod from his belt. It crackled, a bolt of green electricity emerging from its tips. “You know it’s gonna end the same way as every other day.”

Without a word, Felix slunk to the ground, a black haze rising from his back. His body disappeared, merging into the smoke and nearly filling the cell. The guard rolled his eyes, thrusting the weapon into the cloud. The lightning pulsed through the cloud, giving it the resemblance of a thundercloud. Felix reformed lying on his side, clutching his stomach.

“Up you go.” The guard lifted him to his feet, fitting him with the shackles. As Felix lazily shuffled alongside him, he looked to his side as he passed other cells. He knew there were others here like him, but he had never spoken to anybody but the guards that came to fetch him every morning. Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t even remember the last time he spoke.

He looked to his left, seeing a door marked with the words “PROJECT ULTRAMARINE” above it. Through the tiny door window, he could see a young woman, who was staring back at him with eyes of solid blue. She was submerged in a tank of water, though she was not drowning. Felix had seen her many times, and he found that his appreciation of her never waived. To his right, another door marked “PROJECT CRUMB” stood. It was damaged, as if whatever was inside it had pounded on it with great strength. This door had no window, but Felix had heard what sounded like a young child from inside on more than one occasion. There were other doors, but those two were the only other projects he had seen in all his time down here.

He was put into a room of solid white, the guard taking off his shackles. “Good luck.”

The door closed behind him, and he waited for that all too familiar crackle of the speaker on the ceiling.

“Good morning Project Grimoire, how did you sleep?” The voice did not wait for him to answer, for it knew that he wouldn’t. “To start with, could you please Blink to the middle of the room?”

The section of tattoos covering Felix’s hands began to glow a dull gray, and the black mist enveloped his body, disappearing and reappearing where the voice had instructed. Felix exhaled deeply, his tattoos returning to their normal black color.

“Very good, thank you.” A section of wall opened, revealing a small group of armored men. “Please possess each of these men consecutively.”

The tattoos on his forearms glowed, and Felix rushed towards the first man. Possession was simple, but he disliked how it felt to wear someone else’s skin. It was itchy like he was covered in sandpaper. His smoky form entered the man’s mouth, and the man’s body twitched as Felix tried to pilot it. He moved onto the next one, and the next one, but when he got to the fourth, something felt wrong. It was a woman’s body, and they felt so much worse. He expelled himself from her mouth, crumpling to the ground as she knelt down to vomit.

“Subject still exhibits difficulty possessing members of the opposite sex. Please take a moment to collect yourself, Grimoire.”

Once Felix stood up, the orders returned. “To conclude, please incapacitate the training dummies using only your Wraith ability.”

The markings surrounding his upper arms, ankles, and feet all glowed together, and he became ethereal, crawling along the ground shrouded in black smoke. The clockwork soldiers they threw at him were easy to eliminate, nothing could touch him in this form. Nothing except for those shock-sticks they never hesitated to use.

Once his opponents were a pile of scrap, he returned to his normal appearance, breathing heavily.

“Thank you Grimoire, you are to be escorted back to your cell until evening testing.”

The guard couldn’t stand Felix’s silence and often tried to fill it with words of his own. “You’re getting really good at using your powers.”

Felix ignored him, instead eagerly anticipating seeing the blue-eyed girl again. She was pretty, and in his opinion, the only thing worth looking at in the entire facility. However, when he reached her door, he stopped walking, almost tripping his guard.

“Hey, what’s the hold-up?” He asked, following Felix’s gaze. “Oh, her.” The pair watched as a man dunked his cattle prod into her water, causing the entire tank to come alive with green lightning. She cried out in pain, but the water muffled her, her twisted expression the only indication of her pain. “I can’t stand how they torture her like that. You’re just kids, it ain’t right.”

For the first time ever, Felix looked the guard in his eyes, staring at him with desperation. The action was so attention-grabbing, the guard failed to notice as Felix took the keys to his shackles from the man’s belt and unlocked his arms. In a flash, Felix’s tattoos hummed as he thrust his ethereal arms into the man’s stomach. The guard choked, spitting blood as Felix squeezed his organs from the inside. They stared into each other’s eyes silently as the guard lowered himself to the ground, dying. After unlocking his feet, Felix wasted no time. Using his Wraith ability, he phased through the door, rushing for the man who was torturing Ultramarine. He jumped into his mouth, taking control of the bastard. Ultramarine watched curiously as Felix stumbled down the ladder and stood at the base of her tank. He motioned for her to move back, which she did so gracefully it was as if she was flying, not swimming. He punched the glass with all the force the body could muster, the sound of cracking glass and bone reverberating within the room. It took only one more punch before the water erupted from the tank, flooding the girl’s room and knocking Felix out of the guard’s body. Maintaining possession involved a constant fight with the owner’s mind, and a hit like that tossed him like a ragdoll.

“Thank you!” The girl said, taking Felix in her arms. She was soft, a feeling he had only faint memories of. “I was in there for so long. We need to go!” The alarm had already begun to blare, giving Felix a splitting headache. Ultramarine pulled him by the hand, stopping at the door. With a flick of her wrist, a tendril of water arose from the soaked ground and slammed into the door with such incredible force that it blew off its hinges, flying into Project Crumb’s door. “We just gotta keep running!” Ultramarine cried out, pulling Felix through a maze of hallways. “You’re Project Grimoire, right? You have a real name?”

Felix tried to speak it, but his vocal cords burned too much to get any sound out.

She looked disappointed. “I’ll just call ya Grim ‘til we get outta here, then you can write it for me. I’m Madison.”

Felix smiled, running alongside her as they traversed the great expanse of the facility. They stopped at a door labeled “PROJECT TESLA”.

“Another Project!” Madison said, smiling. “Maybe they can help us escape! Could you sneak in there and see what’s inside?”

Felix slipped through the crack beneath the door, opening it from the inside to allow her entry. In front of them was a room filled with massive machines of all kinds. In the center of all this tech was a large metal cage containing a young woman. She was sitting, her head resting on her knees. Electricity crackled around her, gravitating towards two rods at the top of her capsule. It was green, just like what they used in the cattle prods.

“They’re using her as a power source,” Madison said, slowly approaching the girl’s containment. She knocked lightly on the glass, getting her attention. The girl looked uninterested and then shocked as she processed what was looking at her. Water formed around Madison’s arm in the shape of a blade, and she brought it down on the cell, slicing it like a warm knife through butter. She extended her hand to the girl, the water falling away. “We’re getting out of here. Come with us.”

The girl looked hopeful, but shook her head, rambling about how there is no escape and they’ll only get punished. Madison tried to talk her into it, but the girl was headstrong. The sound of many footsteps got the trio’s attention, and armored men appeared pointing guns at Felix, who was still standing by the door. Before the leader could shout “Freeze!”, Felix appeared behind him, driving a ghostly hand into his back and crushing his heart. The soldiers began to panic as one by one, they were taken out by Felix’s ruthless assault. He soon stood over all of them, his arms dripping with blood.

Madison smiled at Project Tesla, who looked horrified. “See? With him on our side, nothing can stop us!” She still would not concede, so with a groan and a heartfelt apology, Madison encased her body in a floating water bubble and began carrying her towards the door. A tickle of electricity caused Madison to clench her fist, instantly freezing the water bubble into a block of ice. Tesla struggled only for a moment before resigning herself to whatever fate lay ahead of her. A huge roar from where they had come from caught their attention, almost knocking Madison over. “What the hell was that?”

“It’s Project Crumb,” Tesla muttered, looking down the dark hallway with terror. “Please, they’ll kill us.”

“Them?” Madison asked, curious. The lights in the hallway flickered, shrouding them in darkness for a few moments before returning to normal. Standing across the hallway was a thin figure, standing with its arms outstretched like a scarecrow.

Tears began to fall from Tesla’s eyes, and as they hit the ground they let out small green sparks. “Please… Run...”

“L-lost…” The creature muttered, twitching. “Help me!” It shrieked, barreling towards them with incredible speed. Limbs erupted from its body, propelling it forward. Tesla screamed in fear, and Madison turned to run. Felix stood still, staring the creature down with his icy gaze. It stopped right as it reached him, unsure of how to react. Eyes emerged from various parts of its body, focusing on Felix. Cautiously, he offered his hand to the monster, who responded by offering a fleshy tendril of its own. The appendage morphed into a small hand, and the beast began to shrink, shifting until it took the form of a young boy no older than ten.

“Help me.” He muttered, his voice now soft, but scared. Felix smiled, lifting the boy onto his shoulders.

“Grim, you’re such a sweetheart!” Madison said, gushing over Felix’s softer side. She then looked at Tesla, who was just staring at the little boy with shock. “You sure are a jumpy little thing. I’m gonna let you go now. Come with us?” The ice broke away, allowing Tesla to stand freely.

“Fine.” She said gruffly.

Madison squealed with delight, hugging Tesla tightly. “Oh, I knew you’d come around! All right, let’s get outta here!”

The group followed Madison’s lead, running through dark halls until a dapper young fellow blocked their path.