The ten abilities I took from the Freaks show along my back now.
It's the same pain I felt when I took my first power, when Dara gave it to me, but it no longer makes me feel weak. I feel like I can really do this—that I can go back above and complete a mission that could quite literally cost me my life. I almost lost it once, if it weren't for Serena and Nox saving me from the execution.
But I'm not going to let anything like that happen again. Not to me, not to the other Freaks, not to my friends.
I will defeat the Soldiers.
"You did really well back there," Serena says quietly from behind me, the water-soaked cloth halting against my ripped-open back.
I turn my head to try and look at her over my shoulder, but I must be too tired for my neck to move too far. "It almost killed me though." I say it with a smile on my face, hoping she can hear the joking tone to my voice.
She laughs lightly, dissolving my worries. "I wouldn't have let it get that far, Luca."
"Thank you for trying to stop her."
She lets out a little bit of air from her nose. "I didn't stop her, per se, but I made her give you a break." She returns to wiping a moment later, the liquid slowly cascading down my flesh. "So, you're welcome for that."
I smile down at my lap, concentrating on Serena's touch and nothing else. I don't even feel the pain of the warm water seeping into my wounds anymore. My mind reels with what might happen when I'm up above, with the Soldiers. Even though Sigma told me—demanded, really—that I shouldn't think about what will happen, because I won't focus all my energy on training and power practice.
I'm trying to do what Sigma says, but the bad scenarios in my head are too overpowering. I've already thought about it too much that I've started coming up with scenarios and ways of how I can't do this mission. They are way more believable.
My mind is so focused that I don't realize when Serena stops wiping the cloth against my skin, her warm touch no longer against my cool flesh. It takes me a beat to focus again, then another to look up from my lap.
"Fifteen," I hear her say under her breath.
"What?" I ask softly, my voice just as quiet.
She is silent for a moment. Then, "Fifteen wounds. Fifteen scars. Fifteen abilities." Her fingers graze along the ragged cuts from my neck, traveling down to the small of my back. "Do you feel any different?"
Almost powerful. No. Too powerful.
"Not really," I lie.
Her fingers don't stop moving against my skin, and I don't mind one bit. "I know I would." Her voice is quiet, almost a whisper. "When I first got my ability, I felt so much more..."
"Stronger?"
One of her fingers stop against a scar, and she doesn't move it away. "Yes. I did feel stronger." She goes silent again. I almost think she has nothing else to say, but then she speaks up again. "But I don't think about it too much."
"Why not?"
She breathes through her nose deeply. "I don't want the feeling of being stronger to corrupt me."
I pull away from her touch and turn around to face her, peering deeply into her dark eyes so she understands the seriousness of my next words. "That won't happen to you, Serena." My eyes search around her face, taking in the perfect warm brown colour of her skin. "You're too good for that to happen."
![[OLD PREVIEW] The Supers Experiment (#1) by auroraanorth](https://img.wattpad.com/cover/90100220-80-k156696.jpg)
She smiles shyly down at my lap, but it goes as quickly as it comes. "It's always the people you least expect to be corrupted. It's a scary thought, if you think about it. It could happen to anyone, at any time..."
I raise her chin with my fingers, making her look into my eyes again. "But it's not going to be you."
"Or you," she breathes.
For a single, perfect moment, there is just silence stretching on between us. A thousand words seem to pass between us as her eyes search around my face. She smiles, opens her mouth, starting to speak before a couple of bangs at the door startle us both. We snap our heads in that direction, the movement almost giving me whiplash.
Serena is the first one to move. She bolts up from the bed and rushes towards the door, pulling it open to reveal Nox, leaning against the frame with a strange look etched onto his thin face.
His expression changes slightly when he sees his sister, eyebrows lifting like he suddenly realized she opened the door. "I knew you'd still be here," he says quietly. He takes a few glances at me, eyebrows furrowing as he takes in my appearance, looking me up and down with a hint of contempt. His eyes glance back at Serena. "Can I have a word with you in private?"
Serena's head turns to look at me again. Her face fills with an apologetic look as she slips out of the door, closing it behind her slowly.
I release a sigh, tangling my hands into my hair to arrange my scattered thoughts. I hardly know this girl, but she manages to throw me off guard. I don't want to hurt her if I don't come back alive. I'm not here to get caught up in these types of emotions. I'm only here to help the Freaks inside the prison. It's my mission to bring them all here, where we'll all be safe.
My mind shuts up when she walks back into the room. She gives me another apologetic smile and says, "Sorry about that," as she heads for the bed again. She sits down slowly, staring at the door like she's not sure if she should just leave.
"Is everything okay?" I ask, reaching for the T-shirt behind me and slipping it on, trying to not wince too hard when the material touches the still-sensitive skin.
Serena nods her head quickly and glances over at me again. "Oh, yeah, everything's fine." Her words might be convincing if the faraway look in her eyes wasn't so obvious.
I press my hand against hers. "Are you sure?"
She smiles, but it almost looks fake. "Absolutely." She quickly looks over at the door again, and I can tell by the way she's leaning forward that she seems ready to bolt for it. "I'd better get going," she says, looking back at me as she heads for the door. "We're both needed in the main room, anyway."
"I'll meet you there," I say quietly.
She nods once and closes the door behind her, the soft sound echoing around my small room.
As I let the silence stretch on, I wonder what news Nox gave Serena that made her look worried and hardly able to keep her eyes on mine when he turned up at my bedroom. But I push it all from my mind as I change into something a bit more presentable, heading out of the door in search of the other Freaks in the main room.
* * *
The Freaks facing me do not look happy.
I have my back pressed against the cool stone wall as I stare at all of them in front of me, some with their arms crossed over their chests, a couple cracking their knuckles or necks or arms.
They look like they're going to kill me.
After we all turned up at the main room, Sigma brought us all to a space similar to the training room, but this one only has blue mats all across the floor, not showing a single spot of the faded, brown colour that's normally there.
