Episode 32

Scarlet could feel her annoyance flowing out through her face.

'I wish I could say I was surprised, but I'm not… not even a little.'

She glanced over at Helfeirch, who seemed to be incredibly calm as he tested the force field with the edge of his knife. A laugh came from the man responsible for their cage as he stood.

"My, you haven't gotten any better at disguising your irritation."

"I think you know that I'm not trying to." Scarlet shifted. "So what is it exactly you think is going on here?"

The smile dropped from Channer's lips. "I don't know, you tell me. You're the one who vanished for four years. And now you're suddenly back from the dead and shining like a star. Seems very suspicious, wouldn't you say?" He now stood just on the other side of the force field.

"Are you suggesting that I'm somehow in league with the people who did this to me?" Scalet could feel her anger rising.

"Aren't you? How else would you have survived?" Channer sneered.

Scarlet said nothing at first. She could see it in Channer's eyes. He'd already decided that she was an enemy that needed to be terminated. An angry smile possessed Scarlet's lips as she continued looking at him.

"You know who took me, don't you?" Scarlet remembered her dream. "A lab. One that people go into and never come out again… or so you think. A place where they cut you open, pull you apart, and put you back together, over and over. Do you want to know what they do with those people when they're done with them? The ones that survive, they dump on the ground," she said as she ran a fingertip down the force field.

"You want to know what I'm going to do when I finally get my hands on the people who did this to me?" Scarlet began to lightly push her fingers into the force field before thrusting her whole arm through, grasping onto Channer and pulling him forcefully against the force field, holding him there.

"I'm going to cut them open with my own two hands and rip their insides out." Scarlet simply stared into the terror-filled eyes of Channer. "Would you like to help me, or would you rather join them?"

Scarlet's whole body had flashed from pearl back to crimson. She felt overcome with a feeling she'd never felt before. It was like something else was taking over her mind and body, something that had been sleeping, biding its time. She felt no fear and no desire to show mercy.

The force field failed altogether, causing one of the armed men in the room to shoot at Scarlet in a panic. Like the blade of the android from before, the bullets pinged off her. However, the man didn't get the chance to be shocked by this, as Helfeirch had already sunk a knife into his throat.

The sound of gunfire had left Channer, who was still in Scarlet's grasp, screaming for everyone to hold their fire and not to move. His commands were followed by an eerie silence that only seemed to add tension to the uneasy standoff.

"Surely you're smart enough to realize that if I was working for the people of that laboratory, you'd all be dead already." Scarlet's voice seemed to consume the otherwise dead-silent room.

Channer was nodding his head fiercely. "Yes, yes, we'll help you." His words were hurried and fraught with panic.

Scarlet's grip on him did not loosen as she leaned down toward his face. "Then tell me what I need to know."

"Lenny, get the files!" Channer shouted. With that, a man scrambled across the room to a computer system.

"Which files do you want me to get?" Lenny's voice shook in fear.

"All of them! Everything pertaining to that laboratory!"

The moment that followed seemed to draw out, but finally, the man stepped away from the computer with a small drive.

"Here's everything," he said with trembling hands as Helfeirch stepped forward to take the drive from him.

Only then did Scarlet release her captive, leaving him to fall back onto the floor. Her eyes scanned the room as she turned toward the door. Each person's eyes there were filled with fear. Not one word was uttered among them as she and Helfeirch left. Scarlet only paused at the door to grab her gun.

The night air would have felt cold on Scarlet's skin any other night, but a fire seemed to be coursing through her veins, propelling her onward. They were only a few blocks from the hotel when she felt the fire that had been powering her recede into her body. Her legs instantly felt weak, causing her to grasp at the nearest object. Strong arms wrapped around her, holding her up.