Kai groaned as consciousness returned, sharper and clearer than it had been in as long as he could remember. The usual fog of sedatives was gone, leaving his mind startlingly lucid.
He flexed his fingers, and a jolt of surprise rippled through him. His body felt… alive.
It wasn't the heavy, lethargic shell he had grown used to. No dull ache gnawed at his joints, no unbearable weight dragged him down.
Instead, a strange energy coursed through him, restless and electric.
Pushing himself off the cold, unforgiving floor, he paused, half-expecting his limbs to fail him. But they didn't. Muscles, once drained to the point of collapse, responded with strength. Blinking against the dim light, he took in his cell. It was the same small, lifeless cage as always, but something was different - he was different.
His memory flashed: searing pain, fire tearing through his veins, a scream ripped from his throat… then darkness.
"Great, I didn't die," Kai muttered hoarsely, his voice rasping against the silence. Relief and disappointment warred within him, but underlying it all was a strange clarity. For the first time in what felt like forever, Nyx's concoction of drugs didn't cloud his mind.
Steadying himself, Kai stepped across his cell to the stone wall with the tally he had been keeping. There was no way to accurately keep track of time, especially in the state that he had been in, but it was one of the few things that kept him somewhat sane.
Kai stared blankly at the wall that had dozens of markings - too many to bother counting. As he did, habit took over and his hand brushed against the wall to add another. The rusty chain shackling his wrists rattled as he did.
He then felt a sting, sharp and sudden - his thumb had caught on a jagged edge, slicing his skin, followed by a bead of blood welling up.
But he didn't flinch or react.
He had long grown used to much worse pain and was expressionless as he lifted his thumb to his face.
That was until the droplet of blood did something that defied all logic.
It hovered.
Kai's breath caught in his throat. His heart raced as he stared at the crimson droplet suspended mid-air, trembling faintly as though alive.
"What the…?"
Instinctively, he focused on it, and it moved - no, responded. It shifted and pulsed in sync with his heartbeat, as if tethered to his will. His pulse quickened, and with it, the blood vibrated, obeying some silent command he didn't fully understand.
A mixture of awe and dread flooded him. The blood wasn't just his anymore - it was his to control.
"I'm a mutant?" he whispered, the words feeling foreign on his tongue.
It seemed impossible. After all the agony, the countless experiments, and Dr Nyx's sadistic obsession, had he actually succeeded?
Kai let out a bitter laugh, the sound echoing hollowly in the cell. "Of all the powers, it had to be blood."
It felt fitting and ironic.
'To think I, of all people, would become one.'
Taking a deep breath, he quickly came to terms with his predicament that couldn't be any worse than it already was. Numerous questions bounced around his head, and as they did, the small cut on his thumb had already healed without him realising.
'What kind of mutant am I? Was Dr Nyx completely successful? Are there side effects waiting for me?' He shook his head, forcing the thoughts aside. None of it mattered now, and there were too many uncertainties.
There was only one thing he could be sure about.
'I'm getting out of here.' His jaw tightened. 'And I definitely won't be that bastard's test subject any longer.'
His hand clenched into a fist, the floating blood droplet falling as his resolve solidified.
"And if I can get my hands on him, I'll..."
A sound jolted him - footsteps echoing down the corridor. Kai's head snapped toward the cell door, and his heartbeat quickened, though not from fear.
It was one of Nyx's many subordinates, a tall, broad figure in a blue uniform. His steps were hurried and uncertain. His gaze darted over the cell numbers until he stopped in front of Kai's - Subject 357.
The guard hesitated, eyes narrowing as they locked onto Kai. Something wasn't right. The subject he was used to dragging around had always been a limp, half-conscious mess, dulled by the sedatives.
But now?
Kai stood upright and stared directly at him, his once hazy dark eyes gleaming unnaturally red.
'What the hell happened to him?' the guard thought, his stomach knotting. Kai didn't just look different - he felt different. The air around him crackled with tension like a predator waiting to pounce.
That was besides the fact that he was supposed to be a corpse for him to drag away.
The guard's hand instinctively hovered over his weapon, but he didn't draw it. Not yet.
Instead, he wrestled with his reluctance. 'He's still weak,' he tried to reason. 'No way the Boss's experiment was successful. His subjects don't just… wake up as functioning mutants.'
Another voice whispered darker possibilities. If Nyx's project had succeeded, the subject in front of him wouldn't be defenceless anymore. He would be extremely dangerous... But also too valuable to ignore.
Sweat beaded on the guard's forehead as he fumbled with the thick metal lock on the door. His hands trembled despite his efforts to stay calm. 'He's still restrained,' he reminded himself. 'His wrists are shackled. And even if he is a mutant, he should still be sedated, right?'
Convincing himself that everything was going to be okay, he finally managed to work the large, rusty key.
Click.
Throwing the lock to the side, he took a deep breath before pushing open the creaky cell door and stepping inside cautiously. One hand still on his holstered weapon, there was a moment of silence as he stared at Subject 357.
Meanwhile, Kai didn't move or say a word, his eyes locked onto the guard. Their crimson glow sent an unspoken warning: Come closer, and I'll show you exactly how weak I am.
The guard swallowed hard, his instincts screaming at him to back away. But his fear of Dr Nyx outweighed any hesitation in confronting Kai.
"You'll be coming with me," the guard barked, his voice stern but shaky.
Kai's lips curled into a faint, humourless smirk. 'My way out came right to me.'