fish in a barrel /lin/

[Rick Freedom]

Rick Freedom
don’t you wish it were simple?

Head spinning, stomach lurching, Rick wakes. Ugh. His tongue feels like cotton. And the floor… So cold.

He opens his eyes. Metal bars. Lovely. And beyond the bars… Rows of cells. He swallows hard.

“Lin?” he croaks. “Lin?”

He flexes his shoulders, pulls in energy, and instantly feels oh so much better. But there’s still the cotton-mouth feeling. How long has he been out? He rubs a hand over his eyes and pushes to his feet, holding the bars for support while he continues to absorb energy.

“Lin?” he says, louder this time, beginning to panic as he doesn’t see his second-in-command anywhere.

Speaking of anywhere… By the look of it, they’re in the MCA holding bin. Oh, crap. Crapcrapcrap. This was EXACTLY what Lin was worried about. But no, he just had to bring them here, to get captured, and without even getting to send word back to the Freedom Fighters.

His eyes open fully now. Crap. The Freedom Fighters. It’s been, what, a day? Two? And with no way to get word back to them, who knows what they’re thinking.

“LIN!” he howls. “LIN!!!”

[Lin Heiwa]

Lin Heiwa.

at times i wondered
if i had not come
a long way
to find what i sought
was something that i
left behind.

First thought: Heat.

Second thought: ...

Third thought: ...is someone calling my name?

It took several minutes to process these three thoughts, especially the last one. She could hear her name, somewhere far off in the distance-- muffled by a sound that sounded comfortingly like the sound of crashing waves. The sound eventually stopped, but still it nagged at her in the back of her mind.

Suddenly, it clicked. Lin is my name, and I'm dreaming. The second she processed that, the second the girl realized that she was dreaming-- she woke up.

Opening your eyes to find that everything felt so dry around you, how hot it was-- and to see parelell bars floating in front of your vision-- that was never a good place to be.

It took a few minutes, but eventually, groggily, Lin sat up-- leaning against the wall behind her. Where was she? Obviously not her home, obviously someplace she had never been before. Another few seconds, then, I'm in the MCA tower. Then a brief surge of panic that followed those words. Her hands flew to her side, reaching for the water-satchel that was obviously no longer there. Looking herself three times over to find that she wasn't even wearing the clothes she had set out in.

Looking up to see the source of intense heat that was keeping her from even forming a drop of liquid in her mouth. The bright orange lines that jeered down at her, and the chains that prevented her from even moving her arms a few inches.

These people had obviously done their research.

The heat was unbearable. It was like a shock that kept her drowsy and unwilling to do anything but sit there and shiver. And she did that for a while, hours maybe-- before it clicked in her head. From the dream from before-- someone was calling my name.

Then, where's Rick?

Lin scooted over as far as she could towards the bars. She slipped down onto her side and strained the chains on her wrist to the utter maximum, till her wrists turned white from pressure. She swallowed once, needlessly (there was nothing relatively wet in her mouth at all), cleared her throat, and whispered out into the darkness, "Rick? Rick?"

[Rick Freedom]

Rick Freedom
don’t you wish it were simple?

He smashes his palm into his forehead, trying to get his brain to work at a relatively normal pace, but succeeding only in a sharp pain. Okay, not the smartest idea ever.

Rick lets go of the bars and shoves one hand through a gap…

“AUGH!” he screams, following the exclamation quickly with a howled scream of curses, then looks down at his hand. Red. Redredredredred. And blistery. Burnt, most definitely. He fires a beam of light from his not-burnt hand out of the bars and it bounces back.

Great. Force field. Lovely. They’ve gotten smarter since the last time he was here.

”Rick? Rick?”

His name. Lin’s voice (kinda). They must be keeping water away from her.

“LIN!” screams, the noise echoing around the barracks. Luckily (for him, at least. Now so much for the other mutants giving him looks that could kill from their own cells), the force field doesn’t seem to block sound, only his other energy. But if he can get sound energy through the barrier, can he manipulate it while still in the cell?

He starts talking, softly, just random nonsense, and reaches out with his hands, twisting the sound until it forms something visible. Light. He stops to take a breath, and the light disappears. Well, that experiment was certainly enjoyable.

He pulls in more energy and screams again. “LIN!”

[Lin Heiwa]

Lin Heiwa.

at times i wondered
if i had not come
a long way
to find what i sought
was something that i
left behind.

Rick's voice is like a knife that cuts through the air--the first loud noise in the three whole days she been here. She winces and sits back up, her hands jerking up for a second in an attempt to cover her ears-- but they didn't make it halfway up the chains jerking them right back down. He must be utterly terrified to be here, or maybe they drugged him or something--

It's more concerning about how calm and rational she is thinking that. Where's the emotion? Lin dropped her head into her knees, cringing-- rationality blocks out the fear. She tried again. "Rick, Rick-- calm down, I'm right here!" (Where is here, exactly?) "You need to stop yelling... stop yelling so we can think.... start thinking of ways to get out of here."

Then a creak of a door and a bright light, and Lin instantly cringes away-- mimicking quite naturally the other mutants in cages across from her own.

[Rick Freedom]

Rick Freedom
don’t you wish it were simple?

“Sorry!” he calls, watching their reactions through the now glaringly obvious force field. It’s shimmery, for Christ’s sake! How could he have not noticed it before?

He brings his shaking hands to his face, ignoring the stabbing pain from his burnt right hand. Oh, god. It’s hopeless. He can’t even see Lin, but he can hear her.

As usual, she’s the voice of reason to counteract his erratic behavior. He swallows hard and forces himself to look around.

A small light springs into life in his palm (small and dim enough not to hurt the eyes of anyone else… again) and he peers out the bars. Not seeing Lin, he starts to panic again.

“Lin? Where are you? In relation to the light.” He waves his hand around. “Are you alright? Please, please tell me you’re alright.”

[Lin Heiwa]

Lin Heiwa.

at times i wondered
if i had not come
a long way
to find what i sought
was something that i
left behind.

A question, and a bright light coming through the bars on her left. It shines right in her eyes again, and she hears some mutant tell them to shut up otherwise... something else that she couldn't hear. Rubbing her eyes blearily in her shoulder, (quite awkwardly too, she can't even move her hands) and turned away.

He turns the light in a new direction, by the looks of it trying to make sure that she can see it from all angels, and Lin took a moment to recover before scoffing, "Right next to you, idiot,", trying to make a joke in this obviously unfunny situation. "And I'm fine. I'm always fine, a little knockout dart can't hurt me."

A lie, but who would be feeling fine but Rick after getting knocked out and thrown into a cell where your powers are being contained?

[Rick Freedom]

Rick Freedom
don’t you wish it were simple?

“Aw, shove it.” he shoots back at the irritated mutant, shining the light in his eyes just for fun, then turns toward Lin, extinguishing his light.

He grins from ear to ear, even though there’s really no reason to smile. The panic slides away. It always does, eventually.

“Oh, so that’s you underneath the light. Couldn’t recognize you. You look awful.” Sugar-coat it? Never. Straight and blunt is quite a bit easier.

He drops his voice and takes on a more solemn tone, moving as close to Lin as he can while still staying within the confines of the force field. “I have a plan, but it’s kinda stupid. Hear me out, kay?”

Without waiting for the go-ahead, he starts talking, low and fast. “I can’t get energy out of the force field, but sound can move through, and once the sound’s through I can manipulate it. The locks on the gate are (at least when I was last here they were) just a simple pin-tumbler lock. If I can get the sound energy into the lock and amplify it, the vibrations should be able to push the pins to the shear point. If it works, the lock’ll pop open. The padlocks on your wrists are the same, I think. The light can’t be helped, but once you’re out of the chains, you can move out of the way of the light.”

He wraps his hands around the bars of his cell, careful to keep his fingers away from the force field. “I haven’t figured out what to do after that.”

[Lin Heiwa]

Lin Heiwa.

at times i wondered
if i had not come
a long way
to find what i sought
was something that i
left behind.

"Why, thank you," Lin responded dryly-- head thumping back against the wall in exasperation and a strange exhaustion. No doubt she was covered in dirt, and there was a stinging on her face that was no doubt a cut, and the crusted dry material on her face was blood.. A pause, (Lin licking her lips), yes, most definitely blood. Plus her hair was somehow in a pony-tail now too, how did that happen? Lin entertained herself for a moment about ways how to get her hair out of it, before the depressing thought of how pony-tails made cutting off large quantities of hair easy.

Great. Lin shook her head, pony-tail smacking her in the face several times but never loosening it. Her ears perked as the sound of scuffling on the other side of the wall, before Rick's voice became suddenly much more clearer and closer. The girl wearily closed her eyes and listened to his plan-- feeling like she was slowly being cooked to death under the rays of the orange steryl lights.

"Wait, wait--" Lin interjected, once again swallowing in attempt to get her mouth moist again. Stupid smart people-- Lin had once bended the spit in her mouth and was able to actually do some damage with a huge icicle dagger made of spit. Gross-- but crudely effective. Must've injected her with something though, couldn't get any moisture at all.

"You say that there's a force-field-- is the lock behind the forcefield or in front of it? Is the forcefield in front of the door, or behind the door?"

[Rick Freedom]

Rick Freedom
don’t you wish it were simple?

Desperately wishing he could get water to her-- but not having a clue how-- he stops to think about her series of closely related questions.

“The field’s completely surrounding my cell on the outside of the bars, meaning the lock’s inside the force field, which includes the door. There’s not a field around your cell. If you look over here, you might be able to see it. It’s kinda shimmery, like soap, or oil on water. There doesn’t seem to be a way to get through it by force-- it tried it a couple of minutes ago and that only resulted in giving me a nasty burn, and probably waking up everyone in this god-forsaken place.”

He moves backward, away from Lin for a moment, and picks up the small cup of water and gruel that he had discovered when he woke. “There’s water in here that I can give you, if it’s possible to get it outside the force field.”

[Lin Heiwa]

Lin Heiwa.

at times i wondered
if i had not come
a long way
to find what i sought
was something that i
left behind.

“Burnt?” Lin repeated, looking horrified. She had an incurable urge to tell him to let her see it, but swallowed the voice that bubbled up from within her throat—she could barely see the tip of his nose, much less his hands. “Oh, god—Rick, don’t try that again.” Of course, burns are so much more horrifying to her than to anyone else, but still—no need to knock themselves out in pain. (Burns hurt worse than any other type of injury, apparently). Rick said something else, too—but Lin was already far away. Far away in the land of inspiration.

He said something else too, but it was muffled in far away as Lin stared at her hands. She didn’t respond, there was no information on what to respond to. Then she licked her lips again, the tangy taste of blood making the tip of her completely dry tongue tingle. Then, in a slow epiphany moment—the girl started scratching furious on her face, where the already scabbed over wound spiraled around on her cheek. It took a few seconds, but sure enough a few seconds later blood began dribbling down her face.

And blood was a liquid.

Face stinging, Lin whipped her cheek and let the small droplet of blood sit on the tip of her finger. Then—her other hand jerking awkwardly against the chains and making an odd jangling sound, Lin struggled for a moment before allowing it to remain floating in mid-air.

Then came the pain.

Lin let out a yelp as the world went fuzzy, black and red spots flickering across her vision like a broken television set—her entire body on fire as the electrical discharge zipped up her body. The blood droplet splattered onto the floor and almost instantly dissolved under the intense heat and a silent alarm went off somewhere in the security rooms. Lin was suddenly left gasping for air and clutching her arm as if it was the last life-raft on the Titanic.

Holding her hand up in front of her, ignoring its shaking, Lin studied with a horrified fascination the silver wires that protruded from her hand and into her skin, nearly covering all of her fingertips with a obviously electrically charged silver metal. Examining the other one = same results. Letting her shaking hands drop into her lap, Lin in a dull shock eyed the barely alive droplet of blood on the concrete and felt an significant dampening on her desire to try to bend the water again.

[Rick Freedom]

Rick Freedom
don’t you wish it were simple?

Oh. Oh, god.

“Lin. What the hell were you thinking.” he snarls, his knuckles flaring white as he grips the metal bars with all his strength.

How could she possibly think that could be a good idea? It’s the most--

Hello.

He whirls around as the sound of a door opening reaches his ears. Two people, one man, one woman, both in long lab coats. Rick instinctively backs away from the corner of the wall with the people.

The two reach the area of cells with him and Lin, the woman walking an extra few steps to stand in front of Rick while the man stops by Lin’s cell. Rick’s eyes widen, and he considers screaming for help, but there’s no one to help them. Standing up straight, he puts on a poker face as the woman smiles.

“Hello, Rick. You’re looking well. It’s been a long time since I last saw you.”

Rick says nothing, instantly knowing who the woman is even though it’s been years-- 16, actually-- since he spoke with her.

“Well, that’s not exactly the welcome I was hoping for.” The woman fake-pouts, taking a key from her lab-coat pocket, and presses a button on her watch. The force field contracts, forcing Rick to stand stick-straight with his hands at his sides to avoid being burned. She unlocks the cell and swings the door open, stepping inside the cell, smiling all the while.

[Lin Heiwa]

Lin Heiwa.

at times i wondered
if i had not come
a long way
to find what i sought
was something that i
left behind.

What had she been thinking? Lin closed her eyes, head flopping backwards onto the wall with a bang. It was usually Rick who did the stupid things (no offense to him at all) and she played the role of the angry parent. Now she simply cringed, forcing herself to take deep breaths as the rolls suddenly reversed in an entirely new scenario. She began to say something back, but it meerly came out a pained choke. No good then, no talking for a while would be good.

Then, amidst all of furious yelling and ringing in her ears-- the sound of footsteps on tile broke through the cloud. She heard Rick abruptly cut himself off, and scuffled away from the small crack in the wall. That was never good, and there was almost a fear that seeped between the wall that emanated from Rick. Something she had almost never seen from him before-- always cocky and ontop of everything.

Not good.

There was a man that suddenly appeared, and the door swung open. Lin watched him silently, nothing moving but her brown eyes that followed him across the small cell and in front of her under the orange neon light.

“Well,” The man smirked, crossing his arms. “It certainly is hot in here isn't it? I'm surprised you had any water left in you to move that water” he mocked, wiping away the starting of sweat. A pause, as his eyes flickered to her still bleeding cheek. “Or blood.”

No response from Lin's end.

The man seemed unaffected though, and continued onwards, starting a small pace around the cell. “I guess we'll have to turn up the heat some. Tighten those chains-- maybe add some tranquilizer to the nutrients we'll eventually have to pump you.”

Nothing.

He frowned, obviously irritated by her stone face. Quite suddenly, it vanished, and replaced by a nonchalant smirk. “Well,” he sighed, feigning disappointment, “We'll obviously have to move you further down away from your little friend in the cell over. Unfortunately, we don't have any open cells.” Another sigh with little reaction from the other. “Well, I suppose we can always get rid of that little girl in cell C43. We got all the information we need out of her anyway-- and her powers are quite similar to yours so the cell—”

Lin's eyes snapped open in a furry and her hands smashed forward to the maximum, awkwardly held by the metal chains that smacked together angrily. Lin’s hands jerked upwards towards the ceiling in a spider-like shape, before jerking back towards herself at such a force that her hands smashed back into her own chest. In response, the forming sweat burst off of the man's brow and into the air, racing back towards the girl before freezing into long dagger like shapes at her simple command. They then simply hovered in front of the scientist’s face, the air suddenly a chilling cold, as Lin struggled with the new surge of pain that was released from the unknown device in her hand.

Spots again, for the second time in five minutes, soared across Lin's line of sight—and after a brief battle, the icicles crashed into the ground and shattered into thousands of miniscule pieces across the ground like glass. Lin, to all of her credit, did not make a sound of pain—but only spat out at the frozen scientist, “You will not kill anyone for me! You are not in control—you do not own me!”

It was a rage she had not used in a long time, a rage that was kindled by the mockery and the humiliation, and the fear and raging for this little girl that probably didn’t even exist. A rage that had been used twice in a period of a week, both in extreme periods of weakness. But now, as the temperatures rose from a chilling below zero to a hundred and fifteen again—the sound of thunder shook the concrete walls as the ice melted under the new heat of the cell. A rage that earned her nothing but pain and the afteraffects if a mild electric shock that was stimulated by the energy buildups in her fingertips.

[Rick Freedom]

Rick Freedom
i used to be old
but now i feel young
‘cuz i was a boy
when i learned
how to run

No, this… This can’t be happening. It’s so outrageous, so completely inconceivable, yet, somehow, it’s real. This woman, this awful, awful woman, is standing here in front of him, hardly looking a day older than when she left him at the curb.

”We’ll be back in a minute, sweetie! Stay here, don’t talk to strangers.” Melissa Thorton smiles, her eyes shining with tears.

“But mommy, why can’t I come with you?” six-year-old Rick takes a few tentative steps toward the woman.

“No, Rick.” she snaps, “Stay.” She turns and walks away, never once looking back.

The young boy sits down and waits. One hour passes, two, three, before he fell asleep there on the curb.

Muscles tightened to the breaking point, his hands shaking with suppressed rage and fear, he suddenly cannot take it any longer.

“So it’s not good enough to just torture me physically and lock my best friend up without any water or food or anything but that stupid heat lamp? You have to be here? Why couldn’t it be anyone else? Oh, that’s right, that wouldn’t have the same effect.” He spits the words in her face, his voice growing to a crescendo. “You had to come here. Well, you want a proper welcome? You wouldn’t need to have a ‘welcome’ if you hadn’t left me by that damned swing set sixteen years ago! You wouldn’t need a ‘welcome’ if you had been a normal human being and accepted your ONLY SON for who he is!”

He stops there, just glares at Melissa Thorton with everything he has, his chest heaving up and down with every breath he takes.

[Lin Heiwa]

Lin Heiwa.

at times i wondered
if i had not come
a long way
to find what i sought
was something that i
left behind.

"Obviously you're too clever for your own good," The scientist hissed, stepping forward and smashing the pieces of ice to bits and allowed the heat to evaporate the ice until it was no more than a wet-spot on the earth.

Lin laughed, despite herself, an almost cruel hollow laugh. "That's because I've had nine-teen years to learn that there is water everywhere in the world. If you open your mind, to sweat, to spit, to blood, to the flowers in the ground-- even thin air," she retorted, leaning back into her chains, utterly exhausted but satisfied with the unnerved expression on the man's face. "You can lock me up, put me in heat that'll kill me in a day, inject me with things so I can't spit, or bleed, or sweat--keep food to dry pellets and knock me out before giving me water-- but I'll always find water somewhere. And you. Can't. Stop. Me."

A long moment of silence, before a smirk crossed the man's face once more. He turned to leave-- obviously unwilling to stay any longer and get another shard of ice thrown into his face. On his way out, as the door swung open, he raised his arm in a general direction and the doors closed again. "Too bad that's exactly what we want."

And for the first time that day, Lin had nothing to say.

[Rick Freedom]

Rick Freedom
i used to be old
but now i feel young
‘cuz i was a boy
when i learned
how to run

Melissa stares at Rick, utterly dumbfounded, but only for a moment. She regains her smug smile in just a second.

“Well. Someone has a lot of pent-up anger. I’ll be sure to work that out of you.”

She takes a step toward him until her face is nearly touching the force field. She looks up (she’s a good six inches shorter than he is) and says with a carefully calculated tone of voice, hardly above a whisper, “Or maybe we’ll just have to torture your friend until you give up.”

Rick glowers at her, the two of them locked in a silent battle of wills for a moment before the ender turns and walks out the door, locking it shut and bringing the force field back to it’s original location.

He drops onto the cot, trembling, and drops his head into his hands. “Lin?” he calls through his fingers.

[Lin Heiwa]

Lin Heiwa.

at times i wondered
if i had not come
a long way
to find what i sought
was something that i
left behind.

There's something about being drugged and shocked till you can't breathe that doesn't give the quite good feeling of perfect rest, so after the scientist left-- Lin had curled up with her knees to her chest and pretty much collapsed into a half-conscious state of mind. It's pretty much impossible to sleep sitting up without practice, and laying down was near impossible with her hands at this awkward angle and without the help of a knock-out dart.

"Lin?"

Lin's head jerked up, and she instantly scooted as far as she could toward the crack in between the cells, massaging her hands slightly. She skipped the formalities and asked quietly, "Rick? Are you... you okay? Did they hurt you?" A pause, remembering the fear and shock from before. "Did you know them?"

[Rick Freedom]

Rick Freedom
i used to be old
but now i feel young
‘cuz i was a boy
when i learned
how to run

Ignoring her questions (as usual), he leans against the wall behind him-- which is conveniently Lin’s wall as well-- and says shakily, “We have to get out of here. Now. Before she--“ He swallows hard. “-- before they come back.”

The amusement park. His mom giving him ice cream and hoisting little Rick up onto his dad’s shoulders.

Sea World. Watching Shamu do tricks. Sitting in between his parents.

Chasing after the ice cream truck.

Making cake and throwing the flour around.

He pushes to his feet and throws a punch at the wall, curses loudly. “Why did it have to be her!” he yells.

[Lin Heiwa]

Lin Heiwa.

at times i wondered
if i had not come
a long way
to find what i sought
was something that i
left behind.

She almost spat back a scathing 'how?' But stopped herself. Moping around is not going to get them anywhere. Neither is sticking your hand into force-fields, or shocking yourself to death. But obviously something had happened to Rick with she was too busy worrying about arguing with her own scientist. Too busy to keep a stone face and protect them both.

"Rick..." she began, softly, gently--

The cocking of a gun.

Lin's head whipped around. There stood the scientist from before, characteristic smirk on his face-- gun pointed right at her forehead. "Up," he commanded, jerking the dart gun upward as if that would empathize his meaning.

Face expressionless, Lin jerked her arms up, and the chains around them rattled.

The scientist huffed, reaching his hand into his pocket. He must've pressed some sort of button or something-- because in the next second the chains popped off her wrist and clattered to the floor. Gaping, Lin stared at her hands, massaging the wrist part right below where the metal incisions started. A glance at the scientist's stone face, and a look at his gun pointed straight at her-- "Don't even think about it. Get up. We need information."

Lin stood. Shakily, leaning against the wall, but she did it. Her legs felt raw and numb, hardly able to hold her own weight. Slowly, she managed to take a few steps out of the door and into the cool, cool, hallway. Instantly, she felt so much better, the cool air like a splash of cool wet water on her face. She simply stood there, in the middle of the hallway-- gasping for the air like she had been submerged under the water.

Then there was a small pinch in her neck, and the world went fuzzy. As the girl's knees slammed onto the concrete and a black veil floated over her vision-- a shadow of someone's foot near her face (high-heels, she noted)-- a single thought of, I guess they aren't taking any chances-- before the world went black.

[Rick Freedom]

Rick Freedom
i used to be old
but now i feel young
‘cuz i was a boy
when i learned
how to run

He whirls around. Gun. He’d recognize the sound anywhere. He watches as Lin steps out of her cell… and crumples.

A loud sound. A scream. He’s vaguely aware that it’s coming from his own mouth. And that it’s her name.

His mother steps into view. He’s still screaming, but has switched from ‘lin’ to profanity. He launches himself at her, only stopped by the force field against his hands. It’s doesn’t even hurt anymore. Just a mild tingling, but when he stop screaming and pulls his palm in front of his face, they’re both an angry, blistery red.

“Now, now. Hurting yourself isn’t going to do your little friend here any good.”

She unlocks the door and disables the force field (cocked gun already pointed at his head) and steps toward him, clips handcuffs on his hands and secures them behind his back. Something soft (gloves?) is pulled over his burnt hands. A blindfold is tugged over his head and tied none-to-gently behind his ears.

“Alright. Walk.” A hasher voice, male. Coming from his right. He can feel a pair of hands clamp over each of his elbows and he fights the urge to shake them off. He can’t do much blindfolded and with his hands behind his back. Remove the blindfold, and he’s set, but, hey. They’re smart.

The two men on his sides tug him out of the cell, past Lin’s slumped form, and through a door. All the while, a gun is pressed to the back of his head.

The sound of a door swinging shut rings through the room, and the lock follows soon after. The handcuffs are removed and his hands (still in the gloves) and pulled out from his sides, chained to the sides of the small room. When the hands leave his arms, he tugs experimentally forward, and immediately feels the tug of the chain. Down, up, the same thing. Completely immobile.

The blindfold is torn from his eyes (making him wince from the sudden light) and then he is alone.

[Lin Heiwa]

Lin Heiwa.

at times i wondered
if i had not come
a long way
to find what i sought
was something that i
left behind.

Black.

Black.

Black-- and then a little white.

Lin blinked-- several times actually, trying to get herself awake. What happened? The chains were still there, no-- they were different somehow. Her arms were above her head now, and now there were ones on her feet. Oh. Oh-- right the dart, and the the floor. And the pounding of her head. At least she was standing now, slightly. But Rick? Where was Rick?

Oh. Right in front of her. Suspended in a quite similar way. Lin blinked wearily, but didn't say anything-- simply leaning against her chains and allowing them to hold her up, closing her eyes. What now? What new torture was this?

The testing will now proceed. A voice blared through an intercom up above. Lin didn't flinch but instead listened quietly. Maybe now she could actually get some food in her stomach--Series of ten phases.

Phase One: Intense Heat
Phase Two: Intense Cold
Phase Three: Total Darkness
Phase Four: Extreme Light
Phase Five: Flooding
Phase Six: Fire
Phase Seven: Electrical Discharges
Phase Eight: Emotional Highs
Phase Nine: Intense Fear
Phase Ten: Reaction Training

Each phase will proceed without food or water and will continue until both members of the testing are unable to continue on. After each test the subjects will be replenished then moved on to the next stage. Let Phase One Commence."

And the heat turned slowly up.

[Rick Freedom]

Rick Freedom
i used to be old
but now i feel young
‘cuz i was a boy
when i learned
how to run

Unconscious Lin. Well, that’s better than dead Lin. He could hug her, if he wasn’t, you know, chained to the walls. Sometime in the hours he’d been in here (he’d fallen asleep, hard to tell for how long) someone had removes his gloves. He wiggles his fingers, then watches as Lin wakes.

The testing will now proceed.

Lovely. He listens to the phases, almost laughing as he hears the first two. Heat and Cold? Please. He’s an energy manipulator. And what are heat and cold? That’s right, people. Energy. Same for the next two-- he can create light, as well as cancel it. These people don't know him at all. Number six he can just cancel the heat for, and it won't hurt a bit.

The heat starts to rise. He welcomes it at first-- brings a bit of feeling back to his numb fingers-- but then it starts to get uncomfortable.

His face still expressionless (his dreams had brought back more memories of his family, but he can’t let his mother know how much seeing her had hurt him) he starts to absorb the radiant energy, pulling it in for letting out once the cold session begins.

[Lin Heiwa]

Lin Heiwa.

at times i wondered
if i had not come
a long way
to find what i sought
was something that i
left behind.

Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no... Lin squeezed her eyes shut as the different tests were listed off one by one. She hardly heard the rest after extreme heat, and after fire she blocked out the world completely. Heat and fire, heat and fire-- the worst things in the world for a girl like her. Her body was 85% water-- much higher than the normal person. You'd think that means she would last longer in high heat situations, but it's in fact the obvious.

Then it started to warm up, and Lin shot a panicked look at Rick from across the room. What did it mean, exactly-- that the next sessions wouldn't begin until the two subjects were unable to continue?

Two subjects-- that was obviously them, and unable to continue? Were the seriously going to hang them there until they passed out from the heat? Then, when the heat started to fade, and Lin gave a questioning glance across the room to Rick-- it suddenly became very clear. He was absorbing the radiant energy, that's why it was cooling. But if he did that, if they never reached the point of passing out-- they would leave the two of them in here until they starved. Would they really do that? Or would they stop it?

Lin said nothing, but slumped into the chains-- too tired to think.

[Rick Freedom]

Rick Freedom
i used to be old
but now i feel young
‘cuz i was a boy
when i learned
how to run

He closes his eyes, but remains completely alert in every other way. As the heat continues to elevate, he finds himself with the sudden need to let out the energy. He can feel it building up in his veins, racing through his body, begging to be let out. He doesn’t know how much longer this is going to go on.

They said until both of them are ‘unable to continue’. And if they never give in? If the heat never gets too hot? What happens then?

He figures the scientists will just keep them here until they starve-- or, as is more likely, die of thirst. The human body can survive without food for much longer then without water.

Rick opens his eyes and looks at Lin, wondering how she’s holding up.

[Lin Heiwa]

Lin Heiwa.

at times i wondered
if i had not come
a long way
to find what i sought
was something that i
left behind.

The heat gets slowly worse, and Lin shifted in the chains again mouth slowly becoming dry again-- brain slowly starting up the 'I need water' sign. But there was a more pressing matter at the moment: there was a machine pumping this heat in, and machines don't get tired-- humans do. Lin looked at her leader in concern, watching him close his eyes-- looking like he was concentrating. Lin had never known the specifics of Rick's powers, how much he could take in, or at what point it started to hurt-- or what.

Lin looks up the exact same time Rick does, ironically. She smiles slightly at him, despite everything going on. "How are you doing?" The girl asks lightly, as if they were simply passing each other by in the freedom fighter caves. And what Lin would do to that actually be the case.

[Rick Freedom]

Rick Freedom
i used to be old
but now i feel young
‘cuz i was a boy
when i learned
how to run

Seeing Lin shift, he pulls in another dose of heat, then sends a wave of cool air toward her. He smiles lightly, something that says, don’t worry-- I got this.

Oh. A question. How’s he doing? “Not bad.” Rick replies softly, “Quite well, considering I just saw my mother for the first time in sixteen years. And yourself?” He closes his eyes again, not signaling an end to the conversation, but just letting himself block out the sights and focus almost entirely on keeping the heat at a relatively normal level.

The chains rattle as he twists his wrists around. Hanging from the metal cuffs for so long really starts to hurt.