Red and white flames lit up the night sky like a celebration from yesteryear. I’d heard about those things. Lavish parties that flew fired torches across the sky to mark joy and happiness. Off in the distance, all it reminded me of was the work that I’d never do again. I wish Trevor told me there was already a process. I wish I’d never started on this path. This path where I thought I was helping people when they already had all the help they needed.

A tear rolled down my cheek; hot and full of regrets. I only wished Maverick would hurry up. I had a bad feeling that this thing wasn’t over. The one thing I knew for sure was that I was done with it. I was done with Black Harbor. I was done with The Rock. I was done being a scientist. What I created was a gateway for a madman like Eric to weaponize something meant to help Scalers, not destroy them.

My heart sank as I let out a heavy sigh. Come on Maverick…

I could see him flying toward me from a distance, but what I didn’t see was the armored utility vehicle pulling up behind me. The explosions going off were masking the sounds of everything around me.

“Everything’s going to be okay Addy.”

The voice made me cringe as I shrunk away from him, growling, “It’s Addison.”

“It could be Preston Cane, and I wouldn’t give two shits,” Eric snarled gripping my arm. He yanked me toward the car, but I refused to go peacefully.

I kneed him in the thigh, hard enough for him to let me go and for me to turn and run. The only problem was the brick wall named Shaw that stood in my way. He grabbed me by both arms to carry me toward the vehicle. I saw Maverick land at the edge of the docks, and the exhaustion pouring from his eyes nearly made me weep.

He began running toward us, but I knew he wouldn’t make it in time. Why didn’t he scale?

“ADDISON!” he shouted as they pushed my head down to get inside.

“MAVERI-” I began to shout but was muffled by the swift backhand of Eric’s open palm across my face. He pushed my head down into my lap before I could get his name out.

We drove off, but it didn’t take long before I saw the roof light up the orange glow of flame-kissed metal.

“He can blow as hard as he wants, ain’t a flame in the world getting through this armor. Should have picked a stronger one,” Eric gloated, “Or maybe you should have just stuck to your kind, and none of this would be happening. You see what happens when you don’t listen to me?”

I went to say something, but when the most minimal sound came out of my mouth, he pushed my head down even harder. He only wanted to hear himself talk. That’s fine. The more he boasted, the more I thought of how I could get away from them. It would have to be once the vehicle stopped moving. Hopefully, we ended up somewhere familiar, but I didn’t count on it.

Once I heard the slow squeal of the brakes bringing us to a halt, I readied myself to break away. Unfortunately, they thought of that too as my feet weren’t even allowed to touch the ground. No matter how hard I kicked and fought, the soldiers pulled me out by my legs while Eric wrapped his arms around my torso. I struggled so much he dropped me. The amount of pain radiating through my shoulder after it crashed into the ground was blinding. I yelped and screeched as Eric commanded two soldiers to pick me up and haul me off deeper into the unknown building.

“If you just cooperate, none of this would be happening. Stop being so fucking difficult, Addy!”

Through the searing pain and gritted teeth, I corrected him, “It’s Addison, you Nitwit.”

“Lock her up until I’m ready for her,” he commanded them.

This must have been what Maverick felt like when they tossed him into that locked room in the lab.

The ground was wet. Running my fingers against it, I hoped it was water, but the murky red hue let me know otherwise. The walls were metal. There weren’t any windows. There weren’t ways in or out other than the door. There weren’t any bars allowing me to look outside. It blended into the wall. If the hinges weren’t on the inside, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to spot it at all.

I wasn’t sure how long I’d been in there but the soft hissing noise, like the air was being let out of a tire, grew louder and louder. My eyes scanned the room frantically only to see that noxious teal gas spilling from vents near the ceiling. It wafted down around me. Without windows or any noticeable cracks, there was nowhere for the fumes to go. I tried holding my breath but that only forced me to inhale deeply. I didn’t know what else to do.

I choked and gagged, desperately crying for air, until finally a window in the door opened, and Eric’s face smiled through a plate of glass.

“Okay,” his voice sounded muffled, “That’s enough. Bring her out and let’s draw some blood.”

I didn’t have any fight in me as two soldiers wearing gas masks walked in and pulled me out of the room. They strapped me down to a chair with my forearms turned upward. My veins were the same color as the gas, but there were red splotches forming all over my skin. I was having some sort of reaction to it.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I managed to squawk out.

Eric laughed into the air. The men around him rolled their eyes, but they couldn’t do anything but listen to him. Shaw needed Eric for the time being, and Eric needed Shaw. They didn’t much like each other, well no one actually liked Eric. But, apparently he was necessary to the Anthro plight.

I could feel his extremely soft fingertips grazing my scalp, letting strands of my hair slip between them. I shivered and shook him away from me. He grabbed a handful of hair and yanked it back. I kept my eyes closed so I wouldn’t have to look at his face.

“You will give me the respect I deserve!” he growled.

“You have to do something to deserve it first you coward,” I hissed.

“I’ll throw you back in that room and keep running my tests. I’ll gas you then draw blood, gas you and then draw blood. I’ll keep running these tests. You will be my lucky human trial until I perfect the serum. It needs to be breathable to us without the gas masks. As you can see it’s not.”

“No shit,” I huffed. I coughed a bit and spit out a teal colored film from the back of my throat. It landed on his foot and that little display of rudeness and disrespect brought the slimmest smirk back to my face. The back of his hand wiped it clean off.

I shook my head with the slightest chuckle, “You hit like a pet.”

That infuriated him as he cracked his knuckles and began to stretch. Calling out to the soldiers, he told them, “I need the room fellas. Someone bring me the white one. I’m going to have me some fun in here.”

“White one? White what? What are you being unimaginative about now?” I snickered with the faintest hint of blood trickling down my lip.

“Oh you’ll see,” he leered.

I couldn’t take it. I didn’t want to know what he had planned for me. It was undoubtedly insane and full of vengeance as if my constant refusal of his advances warranted whatever treatment he was ready to dole out.

“Fuck you,” I mumbled as the soldiers emptied the room.

He laughed, “Oh don’t worry, by the time I’m done experimenting with you, you’re going to wish you had.”

“ERIC!” Shaw’s voice boomed in the empty space. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Eric actually jumped like he was afraid. Startled, he fumbled over his words, “She was trying to get, but I didn’t let her. She needs to be taught a lesson!”

Both Shaw and I glanced to each other trying to decipher what he was trying to say. I shrugged and rolled my eyes. I’d had enough of Eric. I was waiting for Maverick and the rest of the Scarlet Wings to bust in here, flames everywhere and burn this place to the ground.

“What she needs to be doing is perfecting those darts and those flash bombs. Figure out how to condense that gas into that teenie little metal ball like you promised, or I promise that we will have a problem,” Shaw told him sternly.

Eric huffed, “You don’t get it. I can condense it just fine. I’m worried about the effects of Anthros being exposed to the gas for extended periods of time. I need to see how she reacts so I can tweak the formula.”

“Instead of torturing her out some sick delusion of scientific advancement, how about you untie her and let her get to work? I’m sure she can help you out with whatever hiccups you’re having in the process. It is her formula to begin with right?”

Eric hesitated. I could see it in his eyes. He didn’t want to admit that he was piggybacking off of my work. Hell, even I had issues with knowing my work was based on that of an Emerald Siren. But I wasn’t weaponizing it either.

With hate brewing even deeper in his eyes, Eric untied me. Shaw stood at the door watching him untie me, watching him show me what needed to be done, and finally watching me do the work he should have finished.