"Where are you taking me?" Kai asked, his tone calm and direct, cutting through the tension like a blade.
The guard froze, visibly startled. He hadn't expected Kai to speak so clearly, let alone with such composure. Not after the cocktail of drugs Nyx had pumped into him just minutes earlier. The guard's fingers twitched nervously by his side.
Kai's crimson eyes remained locked onto him, unblinking as he stepped forward ominously.
The guard's breathing hitched, his hand darting toward his holstered pistol.
'I was supposed to bring back a corpse anyway, so hopefully the boss won't get too angry,' he thought to himself as he rushed to shoot him down.
But in a blur of motion, Kai lashed out with his leg, striking the pistol before it could be fully drawn. The weapon clattered to the floor, skidding to a corner of the cell. Without wasting a second, Kai followed through with his momentum, spinning low and sweeping the guard's legs out from under him.
A startled grunt escaped the man as he hit the ground hard. Then, before he could even react, Kai pounced on him, pinning him down. He began pressing the rusty chain between his shackled wrists against the guard's throat, leaning in with all his weight.
The guard clawed at the chain with one hand, his face turning red as his airway constricted. With the other, he desperately fumbled with something strapped to his belt...
Bzzzt!
Kai grimaced as a sudden jolt of electricity surged through his body. His muscles spasmed, the shock overwhelming and all too familiar. He faltered slightly, easing the pressure on the chain just enough for the guard to kick him off.
"That damned baton," Kai growled, staggering back and shaking off the lingering numbness. He'd felt its bite before - many times during his frequent attempts at resisting the guards or lashing out at Nyx. It was why he was sedated more heavily than the other subjects.
Scrambling to his feet, baton in hand, the guard's eyes flickered toward the pistol across the room. Both men paused, staring at each other in tense silence - one clearly more uneasy than the other.
Kai rolled his neck lazily, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. He felt… good. Better than he had in as long as he'd been in the facility, and maybe ever. His body, though battered, felt light, strong, and alive. Blood pumped hot through his veins, each beat reverberating with energy.
The guard, on the other hand, was a bundle of nerves. "S-Stand down, Subject 357!" he barked, his voice cracking. "Any more resistance, and I'll call for backup!"
Kai's smirk deepened. He had noticed the wail of an alarm echoing faintly through the facility above the holding cells. At first, he didn't think much of it, but it was clear to him now.
Something big was happening.
And if backup were an option, the guard wouldn't have been sent alone or bluffed so pathetically.
"Go ahead," Kai said, taking a deliberate step forward. "Call for backup. I'll wait."
The guard tightened his grip on the baton, his knuckles white. "I'm armed, and you're chained! This won't end well for you!"
Kai chuckled slightly. "Sounds fair to me."
The guard snapped, yelling as he swung the baton at Kai's head.
Kai didn't flinch as he sidestepped the clumsy attack with ease, his movements fluid and precise.
'Weapons make amateurs overconfident,' Kai mused, dodging another swing. The guard's attacks were frantic and predictable. 'They rely on them too much. Makes them sloppy.'
A memory flickered in his mind, hazy but sharp enough to sting. A giant figure loomed over him, yelling while flinging attacks his way. "Eyes open! Stay calm, no matter what!" The deep voice was familiar, but the details slipped through his grasp like water.
'Wait... Who was that?' Kai felt lost in his own mind. His memories of being in the facility were fuzzy, but anything before that felt almost impossible to recall. Yet he still knew a few things about himself and other things felt ingrained in his being...
Catching a flimsy punch from the guard, Kai dismissed his memory problem for the moment, not being in the best predicament to try unravelling his mind.
But as adrenaline continued to surge through his veins, he couldn't help but wonder, 'Was I always this fast?'
His body almost felt foreign from how smoothly it responded as he continued evading the man's attacks.
The guard was panting now, his movements growing sloppier with each miss. Kai's red eyes gleamed, unwavering, as he calmly observed his opponent and tested out his physical limits. Meanwhile, the guard's gaze kept darting toward the pistol in the corner, betraying his intent.
"Bad idea," Kai muttered under his breath as the guard lunged for the weapon.
He struck like a coiled viper, his foot slamming into the guard's ribs. A sickening crack echoed in the small cell, followed by a guttural scream. The guard crumpled to the floor, clutching his side.
'And was I always this strong?' he added as he stepped forward and pressed his bare foot down on the guard's outstretched hand, pinning it in place just shy of the pistol.
"Is this what you wanted?" Kai asked, his tone casual as he bent down to pick up the gun.
The cold metal felt familiar in his hands, almost comforting.
His fingers moved on their own, ejecting the magazine and inspecting it with practised ease. He slid it back in with a satisfying click, the sound sharp in the quiet cell.
Beneath him, the guard groaned, clutching his side as he struggled to sit up. Kai didn't spare him a glance. His attention remained on the weapon. He cocked it back, the mechanical snap both precise and instinctive.
'I guess I was some kind of soldier, which explains how easily I pieced this idiot up,' Kai gathered. But the thought didn't linger long. The faint wail of a siren in the distance pulled his focus back to the present.
The guard's earlier bravado had dissolved into trembling silence after being humiliated and taken down so easily.
Kai smirked, the corners of his lips curling upwards. 'Time to get some answers.'