Chapter 31: Limit

SECRET UNDERGROUND HYDRA LABORATORY. JANUARY 1945.

After the series of experimentation on Yumhee, she was escorted in a room connected to another one with only a glass wall separating it. She was left there standing alone. What she didn't know was that the room was especially made for her to test what abilities she has obtained after almost a year of experimentation.

On the other side of the glass, Dr. Erskine entered the room with three Hydra soldiers wheeling in two tables with equipments for God knows what. When Dr. Erskine was strapped in the chair, they both knew what is about to happen.

Yumhee ran to the steel door but it won't budge even with her super strength. She tried to smash the glass wall but nothing happened. She felt helpless and hopeless. Without her noticing, tears started to fall on her face.

"Yumhee! Yumhee! Just stop Yumhee!" Dr. Erskine knew that Hydra doesn't need him anymore for a long time now. He was prepared to die but never did it occur in his mind that they would torture him to death in front of her daughter to break her will and to be able to finally see the results of the experiments, if she was able to obtain new abilities.

The frustrated scientists were at their wit's end. Having enough failures, they agreed to use Dr. Erskine's death as last resort of awakening any power inside Yumhee.

"Just don't look okay? Now...turn around and cover your ears." tears started falling on Dr. Erskine's face too.

Yumhee turned around sliding down with her back against the glass wall, covering her ears. Then after a few silent minutes, the torture of her father started. More tears started to fall now.

Dr. Erskine screamed again when one of the Hydra soldiers pulled one of his fingernails and putting salt in it. When nothing was happening with Yumhee, they upped the torture process. They also started to taunt the woman on the other side of the glass wall.

"If we don't see results soon, you wouldn't even be able to recognize your father after this...and don't forget your son." One of the Hydra soldiers maliciously taunted her. When she didn't stir he went to get the acid and poured it slowly in Dr. Erskine's left thigh. As soon as the acid made contact, a guttural scream escaped his lips. The smell of burnt meat started to permeate in the room.

Yumhee turned back around slowly, beyond horrified at the scene before her. "Don't look Yumhee!" Dr. Erskine weakly said. Then another Hydra soldier stepped up with a blunt knife in his right hand. Yumhee started banging the wall again when the said soldier slowly peeled a patch of skin off Dr. Erskine's right arm, blood pooling below him.

She didn't even know she was shouting and screaming at them, she only felt something inside her unlocking like an untapped box of unimaginable power lying dormant for so long. Then she felt power surge inside her, her skin feeling tingles all around.

On the other side of the wall, the soldiers were shocked to see the woman's transformation. A shiny hard coat like diamonds, shining where light hits her, started to appear on her skin until her whole body was covered with it.

The scientists who were watching at the surveillance room adjacent to the torture room were rejoicing and jotting down all their observations while reinforcing the glass wall. Though it was made to withstand even a nuclear bomb, they were still unsure what the woman can do. With almost a year of experimentation and about 10 different serum injected in her, there must be more to witness.

The Hydra soldiers continued to torture Dr. Erskine. Two of them dragged him to a wall and tied his arms. The last one pulled a lever to hang Dr. Erskine a feet from the floor. Then he reached for a whip with small metal thorns in it. He looked at Yumhee then smirked evilly. When he faced Dr. Erskine, he started whipping him. Screams echoed all through out the room. Blood and pieces of skin and meat littered below Dr. Erskine's feet.

Yumhee was consumed with burning anger, the temperature around her begin to fluctuate from cold to hot and vice versa. She placed her hands against the wall and it started to freeze. The Hydra soldiers stopped on their tracks, terrified. When Yumhee retracted her right arm, they run to the door with guns in hands but the assistants in the surveillance room locked the doors and fortified both the rooms. Very thick steel walls started to cover every inch of the rooms.

Yumhee pounded the frozen wall. After the sixth one, the wall crumbled. Two of the soldiers shoot her immediately while the third one run to Dr. Erskine pointing his gun to his head. "Stop right there or I'll kill him right here right now!" The Hydra soldier shouted. But Yumhee vanished in thin air. The soldiers roam their eyes everywhere, shaking from fear. Yumhee materialized behind the man pointing his gun to Dr. Erskine's head and snapped his neck before anyone can blink. The two begin to shoot her again, emptying their guns but it just bounced off when made contact in any part of her body. The bullets not able to penetrate the shiny hard shell.

When the guns clicked empty, the two men were beyond terrified. Just like before, Yumhee vanished and reappeared behind the two men snapping their necks. She vanished again and released Dr. Erskine from the restraints. Sleeping gas was released but it was too late. When Yumhee vanished together with his father, the assistants sound the alarm.

Yumhee appeared inside Stephan's holding cell with her father on her left side, his right arm hanged limply on her shoulder. She scooped his son gently then they vanished. Before they left the secret underground Hydra laboratory, she didn't forget to push the self-destruct button.

When they reappeared, it was outside the nearest hospital. She didn't forget to undo her armor-like skin. After the ordeal, she felt so weak. Her whole body hurt in a cellular level. But she dragged her body together with her father until they reached the entrance of the hospital saying "Help!" weakly. The nurses in the vicinity rushed to her, one female nurse taking the baby from her while two male nurses took Dr. Erskine. When she was sure that they were going to be okay, she coughed up blood and collapsed to the arms of one female and one male nurse. Blood was seen in her nose and ears. She and Dr. Erskine were rushed immediately at separate ICU's while the baby was checked just in case he's also in danger.