Can I make it? (Cont. of Tumble Mission)

The next room was quite nerve-wracking. Dark metal panels coated the walls, floor, and ceiling aside from an observation window at least twelve feet off of the ground. Richard stood alone underneath the harsh lights that beamed down on him from above. He tried to figure out what he was doing here but as he looked around, the room was surprisingly empty. Looking up at the window, he could vaguely make out the silhouettes of the doctor, the small boy and Lynn who was finally starting to wake up. She was dazed but moving and that was good enough for Richard. She was okay for now, even when she was tied up in a chair.

The doctor simply stared down at him from his comfortable chair within the confines of the observation room for a moment. His clipboard stayed loyally at his side, ink from the pen covering all corners of the first few pieces of paper. Moving his gaze, he flipped the pages until he came to a new blank sheet, his empty hand reaching for the mic button on the table in front of him. “Test one should be fairly easy. You will need no materials. Simply show me what you can do.”

There was an audible click as the microphone turned off and it echoed throughout the empty room. That sounded easy enough but Richard wasn’t entirely sure how he wanted to show that without having material items. “Um, alright…” He muttered as he glanced around the room again trying to get any ideas but none came. After about a minute, Richard looked back up at the room to see the doctor fiddling around with the table. From simple deduction, he was sure that it was a control table of sorts with all kinds of dials and buttons from how much the doctor’s arms were moving around and pressing this and that.

Richard had almost gotten lost watching Dr. Smith mess with the table that the sudden compression of hydraulics made him jump out of his skin. The loud hiss from the steam moving through whatever machine was currently invisible was almost terrifying before the walls in front and behind him began to move. What started as a slow crawl quickly gained speed as the walls from floor to ceiling began to close in on him. For a second, the guardian was expecting more than what he got, but it was relieving to know that this was the first test. Definitely simple.

Within a few seconds, the walls closed in on him, clamping together tightly with him stuck in between. The feeling of being stuck between the two walls was nothing unfamiliar to Richard but the darkness of being in the material was getting annoying. With a few quick steps, the guardian moved out of the enclosed walls and into an open spot with a clear vantage point for both the window and the walls. With almost no expression on his face, he glanced between the two for a second before his eyes settled onto the doctor, simply waiting for whatever he could throw at him next.

“Good, good,” the scientist said, scribbling more notes onto the clipboard. “Test one is successful. Subject can easily maneuver entire body through solid objects…” He spoke to himself as he wrote, not even acknowledging the presence of the other two in the room with him. When he was done, he tapped his pen against his teeth for a minute in thought as he tried to figure out how to proceed. Reaching back to the table, he pressed the mic button again. “Test one complete. Moving to test two. No materials once again. All you have to do is phase through all of the walls put in place.” With several more button presses and dials turned, the two original walls returned to their place and in their place, several panels appeared out of the floor in random places.

Richard glanced around at the new course he had to complete. This guy couldn’t be serious. Did he think that Richard was inept? With an annoyed roll of his eyes, he walked towards the first panel. “You’re torturing me already, doctor…” He muttered. With ease, the guardian moved through each panel, jumping around the room to make sure that he had gone through each. Thankfully, they had been arranged in such a way that it was easy to keep track of where he had already been. When he was done, he stood surprisingly close to the window that still stretched well over his head in silence.

Dr. Smith nodded eagerly as he watched Richard wander around the room and through the panels. It was an amazing sight. He wrote down more chicken scratch. “Test two is successful. Subject can easily maneuver through multiple solid objects over a short period of time estimated to be… between forty-three seconds and one minute and nineteen seconds. This will help with future tests.” With an excited sigh, he reset the room and clicked the button. “Don’t be a smart ass. Remember who is so kindly relaxing with me in this room.” The microphone clicked off for a second before the soft buzz of it being turned on returned. “Test two complete. Moving on to test three. This test is comprised of three parts. We will be testing the kinds of materials you can move through. Part one commencing.” The click of the button decompressing echoed in the room.

The room slowly reset, all of the panels retreating back into the floor. With several more minutes passing, the room suddenly began to change. Hydraulic pumps moved the panels on the walls, turning them to reveal multiple materials that lined the new panels including wood, plastic, and lastly some kind of metal. Richard wasn’t entirely sure what it was, but it didn’t seem like something he couldn’t pass through. The way that it had been set up seemed to be just like the first test with the movable walls in different sections of the room. The first section to move was the wood, moving toward him at a rather decent pace. With a shrug and an annoyed huff, the guardian moved through it with ease. The same went for the plastic and even the metal. “Give me part two,” he said, looking up at the window with a look of irritation.

There was a pause. Silence filled both rooms as the doctor took more notes. His focus was commendable but Richard wished he could take this a bit faster. “Part two commencing.” With a press of a different button, the walls began to rotate again revealing three new materials. Each one of them looked like a different metal. “Hopefully this test will stay easy for you.”

The amount of encouragement Richard was given was taken to heart. He felt confident in himself to get through this. He had been able to go through all everyday items and materials, so hopefully this would be just as painless. The first metal moved off of the wall and seamlessly, the guardian passed through. The second followed quickly and as he looked at it, the material was easily recognizable as copper. This was new. Richard had never actually tried phasing through copper before. As the panel approached, the guardian closed the gap between them and pushed through it, coming out on the other side with shocked expression on his face. He made it through but with more effort than he had put into it so far. He looked behind him as the copper panel continued back in place, not moving once it reached its destination. He had never felt a sensation like that before. The metal had slowed him down. He had to physically push against it just to get through.

Without much time, however, the third panel inched closer to him. Turning around to study it, Richard quickly grew slightly nervous. What was this one supposed to be made out of? Would it have the same effect as the last one? He couldn’t wait and find out. With a bit of hesitation, Richard stepped forward and pressed himself against the panel. Just as the last one, the amount of effort he had to make to push through was unusually high. It was almost painful, even. There was only one other time he had felt something remotely similar to this way back when they were stuck in the gender-bent mansion and he only had half of his abilities. Nonetheless, he made it through with slight difficulty, coming out on the other side, resting his hands on his knees as his breathing picked up.

There was more silence for a moment with even more scribbling. After a minute, the microphone sounded again. “Part two complete. Commencing part three.” The scientist looked through the glass down at Richard who seemed to be having a bit of trouble. As he had anticipated, there was a limit to the density of the object that the subject could pass through. This last part was going to be interesting. Dr. Smith quickly made some adjustments on the control panel in front of him before beginning the final part.

The walls rotated once more, revealing three more types of metal. One was obviously gold while the other two were a silver-gray color. Suddenly Richard didn’t quite like this idea. After the horrible feeling the last two had given him, he could only assume that these were going to be worse. With only a few seconds to think, the first panel began moving towards him, thankfully at a slower pace than the last two parts. Richard figured that it would help him prepare for what was to come but no matter how much he told himself that he could do it, he could quite believe it. He did not want to go back through what he just experienced but if he didn’t… He didn’t even want to think about it.

Taking a deep, nervous breath, Richard ran towards the panel hoping that the faster he moved the easier it would be to move through it. It sounded crazy but it was really the only option he had. As the panel grew closer, the guardian finally had to close his eyes as he made contact.

The initial feeling was terrible. Normally he couldn’t feel a thing as he moved through whatever object he approached but it felt like he had just run straight into a truck. All of the momentum he had practically vanished as he made contact with the metal and instead, he was pretty sure that the panel was pushing him backwards. Focusing harder, Richard pushed back, trying with all of his energy to phase through. Slowly, it began to work but the pain as he forced himself through it was almost unbearable. Every second that he was inside of the panel, the more it felt like needles were piercing every inch of his skin, and the longer part of him was in it, the deeper the needles-turned-knives cut, moving deep into muscles and bone in his body.  It was awful trying keep moving forward, and because of how slow the process was, it had made it all the more complicated. Now he couldn’t fully be intangible. He had to focus his energy on only part of himself while the rest had to be solid to keep pushing forward. As the top half of his body emerged from the panel, he used the leverage he had to pull the rest of himself through, every moment more painful than the last.

As soon as he felt his feet free themselves from the metal, Richard collapsed on the ground trying to stifle the pain that seared his body from head to toe. He gasped for breath, attempting to fill his newly reformed lungs before he tried to get back up on his feet. He stumbled a bit, his muscles weak from overexertion. When he could finally stand, he looked up to the observation window with a desperate expression filled with an uncertain fear. That was only the first object out of the three. He didn’t want to know what the others would do to him. He didn’t think he could take any more of this. “Okay, I think… I think I’ve reached my limit,” Richard called up to the window, exhaustion coating his voice. “I don’t think I can make it through the others.”

The whirring of the hydraulics behind the walls suddenly softened as the engines were turned off. The moving walls slowed to a halt as the doctor stood up from his chair, staring down at Richard with a stern look. “You don’t think? This is what the test is for. It is to see just how intangible you really are. I highly suggest that you continue through this final part. The experiment requires that you continue. You will proceed with this test.” The glare could be felt for miles as the doctor resumed the test, the walls picking up their pace again. The sound of the hydraulics became deafening again from within the room as everything continued as normal.

“What, no! I-I can’t!” Richard replied in disbelief. “It’s going to kill me!” As the machines began moving again, the guardian turned around to face the next panel. The solid gold began to move toward him at a rather slow pace which was nice but the thought of trying to force himself through it was terrifying. As the gold plate grew closer, Richard stepped away from it, hoping that the doctor would stop the machine, but deep in his gut he didn’t quite believe that he would.

Dr. Smith frowned. “Fine,” he replied. “I was hoping for better cooperation considering we just started…” With almost no change in his posture, the scientist walked over to where Lynn sat in a small chair, hovering near her. “I guess Miss Brailynn will have to suffer. It’s entirely up to you, my boy,” the scientist continued as his tall figure loomed over the spring, his shadow casting a dark look on her face.

With a quick glance up at the window, Richard froze. He had almost forgotten all about Lynn sitting up there with him and that poor boy. She had been so quiet and with his mind so focused on the tests, he hadn’t realized that she was still there with them. With a sharp gasp, he began to panic as his eyes locked onto hers. Sadly, he was still convinced that there was no way he was making it through that gold plate. He was going to suffocate before he made it through. “No, seriously! I can’t do it! Don’t… Don’t touch her! It’s not that I don’t want to, I truly can’t, God damn it!” He cried out furiously, desperately wanting the man to move away from her.

The doctor’s eyes narrowed as he continued to look at Richard through the window. He was quickly growing impatient. “I see…” He muttered rather softly but the sharp tone cut through the air like a knife. “If you don’t want to do as I say, then let’s find out how many of this beautiful girl’s fingers it takes until you change your mind.”

For the longest time, as the test continued on, the young woman had sat there in head seat. Her head was drooped down in exhaustion and she did little other than listen. As soon as the doctor spoke up, however, her gaze shot up. She stared straight down at Richard, looking from him, to the psychopath, to her boyfriend, and back again. She shook her head defiantly in disbelief.

"W-wait, what?!" Her voice finally split through the silence, terror tearing away at her throat and cracking her own words. It was like some sort of life had sparked into her as she eyed the instruments that stood by him. "No!" She tugged violently away, trying to break her hands away from the tight bonds that held her down in a feeble attempt to get away. "Don't you dare touch me!"

Her face twisted, frightened and furious, and she made a mad glance back down to where the blonde boy stood exhausted. "Richard!" Lynn cried, "Richard, help me!"

The doctor kept silent as he continued his search for whatever he was looking for until finally, he threw down the tools in his hands with an outcry of anger. Calming down with a deep, hefty sigh, he simply turned back around to Lynn. “This will just have to do…” Taking hold of her strapped down hand in his own and grabbing onto her pinkie finger, he began to bend it backwards until her finger stopped, looking down at Richard through the glass, never breaking the stare.

As soon as Richard saw what Smith was doing, he ran towards the window, crying out for the doctor to stop. “No, no, no no no! Don’t do this! Don’t hurt her! Stop, damn it!” Each cry grew louder until he was practically shrieking at the top of his lungs and hitting his fist against the wall but no matter what he tried, nothing seemed to faze Smith. Tears welled up in his eyes as he continued to beg for him not to continue, only to be met with cries from Lynn as she called out for him to stop this mad man. His name rang in his ears over and over from his girlfriend until it evolved into a loud scream as a faint, audible crack could be heard through the speakers that lined the testing room.

The sound shook Richard down to the core. He stood there frozen against the wall as he stared at Brailynn, his eyes unmoving from her as her cries rang in his ears. He had never heard her in such desperation. It had already practically shattered his heart. Before he even knew it, he was sliding down the wall, coming to a stop as his butt landed on the ground, the rest of his body dazed from shock and dark, horrifying thoughts. The only thing to bring him out of it was the sound of Dr. Smith’s voice. “Still not wanting to cooperate? Moving along then! Finger number two!”

“Wait, wait!” Richard suddenly cried as he jumped to his feet with a start. “I’ll do it! Just… don’t hurt her again! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Backing away from the wall, he got into view of the window again. At first, he didn’t dare look up to see what had happened but it was relieving to see that the doctor had actually stopped. In fact, he stepped away from Lynn who was hunched over her newly broken finger whimpering in the chair and tears running down her face. However, the distance was still too short. It was still too easy for the scientist to grab onto her again.

With a dark, quizzical look, Smith studied Richard intently. “Well? I’m waiting!” He said sternly. “Get to it, boy!”

In a new terrified frenzy, Richard turned back to the gold plate that had actually moved quite a bit since he last saw it. It was well over halfway to his side of the room but there was still plenty of space. He knew this wouldn’t end well but after what he had just witnessed, it was better him to feel pain than Lynn. He ran up to the panel with a loud, defiant cry, his weight hitting it hard and solid. He pushed against it as hard as he could, determined to make it through the dense metal. At first, nothing happened, but after a few seconds, his body finally began to push through. It almost looked like butter melting in a lukewarm pan. The process was horribly slow and the pain that he felt as he pushed through it was excruciating. His battle yells quickly turned into pain-ridden outbursts as he continuously pushed himself farther into the metal.

God, it hurt. The feeling of the gold moving fairly solidly through his body made it feel like it was peeling his skin off and leaving it on the other side. There was just too much of it. Richard couldn’t quite understand the reason behind being unable to maneuver through it but that was the only way he could describe it: there was just too much gold within itself. It had never quite occurred to him that it was just too dense for him to pass through.  Yet, he kept pushing, his arms making it first followed by his head, torso and finally his legs. It took so much energy. He had spread himself too thin. As soon as he was solid again on the other side of the panel, Richard collapsed on his face yet again, this time not even managing to catch himself before he fell.

As he lay on the cold floor, all he could do was barely keep his eyes open as he tried to breathe but it was forced and labored. Every part of his body ached as he managed to roll to one side and onto his back before running out of energy to do anything else. Nothing about him wanted to move ever again. Every joint protested with sharp pangs every time he moved, his chest felt tight and his head couldn’t stop spinning as sweat beaded up and ran down his face more than it had ever done before. This was too much, but somehow he had survived and now all he wanted to do was close his eyes…

“Get up, son!” The doctor’s voice suddenly called over the speakers. “You look like shit but you still have one more panel to do. Come on!” The impatience was growing as he stared down at Richard before scribbling some more notes on his papers. As he glanced back and forth between the two, he began to see dark red spots forming on the surface of the guardian’s skin. They were miniscule in size but the sheer amount was hard to miss with the naked eye. “What’s that on your body?” He asked curiously.

However, Richard couldn’t find the energy to answer. As soon as it was brought to his attention, the guardian reached down to the closest part of his body to his hands before feeling a warm, wet sensation that sent chills down his aching spine. In a dazed confusion, he brought his hand back up to his face to see blood smeared all over his fingertips and dripping down the side of his palm. Through the short, staggered breaths he could manage, he tried to speak up but his answer only came out as a raspy whisper.

As Richard inspected himself, the doctor watched carefully until the guardian’s lips began to move. When there was no audible answer, Smith became frustrated. “What was that? Speak up! I don’t want to have to encourage you some more!”

“It’s… blood!” Richard managed, his voice weak and still hard to hear. Yet somehow, it had spent all of the remaining energy he had. As soon as he answered, Richard’s arm collapsed back down onto the floor as he finally gave in and fell unconscious.

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Everything hurt. As Richard came to, every limb immediately protested, the sharp needles in his skin still digging deep into his flesh. With a sharp gasp, the guardian's eyes flew open as he looked himself up and down as much as he could. Thank God, there were no real needles, but dried blood on his skin cracked as he moved. As he reached to try to scrape it off of his skin, he finally realized just how tied down he was. His wrists and ankles were locked in place on yet another metal chair that wouldn't budge no matter what he tried. Even phasing through them was impossible. That was when the true fear set in.

For the first time ever, Richard found something he could not move through. Of all things, it had to be this damned chair. No matter what way he moved, there was no getting out of it. He was legitimately trapped and that terrified him. He had never been imprisoned before. In fact, this was an entirely new feeling as his eyes grew wide and his throat shut tight from the sheer terror that flowed through his veins. His breathing turned into gasps for air, but all he could manage were pitiful wheezes that barely made it into his burning lungs as his heart raced in his chest and sweat poured down his face. Everything within him screamed to get out as the poor guardian nearly went into a full panic attack until the door across the room opened with a loud creak.

Instantly, Richard was snapped back to reality as his fear-ridden eyes locked onto the doctor as he walked into the room followed by the small little boy from earlier. However, the door didn't close. With something material to slowly bring him back, Richard began to calm down even if just for a moment to look around. The room was instantly recognizable as the same room he had been in before the tests.

"I see you've figured it out," a chilling laugh echoed about the room as the scientist strode up to Richard in a rather too calm, too smooth movement. "Platinum infused steel. It's the only metal you can't get through with your abilities. I'm impressed!" With almost a swooning sigh, he moved to where he was standing behind the guardian. "Calm down, now. Don't get yourself too worked up. I'll have to sedate you."

Too many thoughts swarmed Richard's mind as the doctor began to speak. Platinum infused steel? What the hell was he talking about? It suddenly chimed in his head. There was one last plate he never got through in the final test. That was platinum? He cursed under his breath as he tried his best to calm down but it was hard to do when he had no idea what was about to happen.

"It's a shame that you fell unconscious so early in the tests. I was truly expecting more out of you," The scientist pouted, faking what sounded like real pity, but the disappointment was dripping from his words. "Since you were out for so long and utterly wasting my time, we went ahead and asked Ms. Brailynn a few questions. Now that you're awake, however, we're back to focusing on you!"

The faux excitement in the doctor's voice made Richard sick to his stomach, but he tried his hardest to ignore it as his thoughts when straight to Lynn. As if on cue, his heart dropped at the thought of them putting her through this torture. "What... What did you do to her?!" he shouted, his voice ragged and broken, but the anger that boiled within him made him push through the horrible dry mouth he had.

Another laugh erupted from the doctor who hovered awkwardly close behind Richard. "I think it's best that we show you. Subject 82, will you kindly?" He asked, motioning to the boy who had inconspicuously made his way to the far corner of the room, his small eyes wide and eerily unblinking.

"R-Richard?"

Maybe he hadn't noticed her before, or maybe they'd just dragged her in, hell, maybe she'd been in there the entire time. From behind where the feeble boy wavered around, the blonde lay in crumbles, just peering out of the shadows. Her finger was gnarled and twisted, swollen ugly shades of black and blue, but that was the hardly worst thing about it then.

Streams of red had run freely from her forehead, her mouth, smeared across her pale skin. It was as if something crazed had gotten a hold of her. The Spring's hair was a matted mess, her gown in fresh tatters, and she could do little more than flick her gaze back up at her boyfriend's; her face broken, bruised, and desperate.

"I'm... I'm s-sorry," Brailynn choked out. "I'm sorry. It hurts so much..." Hot tears gathered in her eyes, spilling out onto the floor. "I love you, Rich. I'm sorry. Please make them stop."

The instant her weak and broken voice reached his ears, Richard's head snapped to her direction. A sharp gasp escaped him before he ended up choking on his own shock and fear. Tears stung his wide, horrified eyes as he sat there helpless as Lynn suffered. At first, rage boiled inside of him as he fought and pushed against the restraints, trying anything he could to get out and get to Lynn. "What have you done to her?!" he shouted through his teeth. "What did you do? Let me out! Let me out!" He screamed, ignoring the pain of the restraints digging into his skin as he tried as hard as he could to get out of the chair. Yet, after a few seconds, he realized just how futile his attempts were, and slowly his anger transitioned into tears and weeping as his spirit finally broke. His fights weakened until he was a shriveled mess sitting in the chair, staring helplessly at his girlfriend who was crumbled on the floor.

For several minutes, all he could do was sit there defeated as he tried to think of some way to help her. It was all in vain, however, when he realized that there was nothing he could do. He couldn't escape now even if he wanted to. He couldn't grab her and run off like he initially planned. God, why hadn't he done something sooner?! All he could do was sit there furiously hating himself for waiting. His face had quickly turned into a disheveled mess as he finally looked back up at Lynn, the previous light in his eyes faded in a defeated stupor.

"I'm... I'm so sorry..." he cried, his voice barely above a whisper. "I can't... do anything. I'm so sorry..."

As Richard slumped in his chair, all he could do was repeat himself over and over as the scientist stood tall behind him. "Aw, aren't you sweet? Trying to help her." A laugh escaped his throat as he strode around to where he stood right between Lynn and Richard, staring the guardian dead in the face. "If you really want to save her, you'll keep doing what's required of you. Hopefully this time you'll last a bit longer. We won't have to try to get answers out of your little friend anymore."

Richard could barely acknowledge the doctor in front of him but nodded in response to his threat. At this point, the poor guardian would do whatever it took to keep them from hurting Lynn. She was already broken. Anything more could possibly kill her. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let that happen. "Just... don't hurt her..." he whimpered before giving in.

"Keep your end of the deal and we won't have to," the doctor replied, grabbing his things and pressing a small button off to the side of the room. Instantly with a loud hissing sound, the restraints were released. "Back to the testing chamber we go. Time to test your endurance." With an excited smile, he waited for Richard to exit and followed behind him, motioning for the small boy in the corner to follow as well.

______________________________________________

It was the same room. Nothing had changed. The stale metal walls haunted Richard as he walked in, trying to keep what little focus he had. This wasn't like the first time. A thick sense of dread hung in the air as his heart sank when he looked up to see that the position of the doctor and Lynn had not changed from the first room except this time, she looked awful. There was no doubt that she was in a lot of pain. This time, however, fear took his heart instead of anger as he desperately hoped that he wouldn't screw this up. But before he could think too much, the sound of the speakers coming online alerted him to pay attention to the scientist standing close to the window.

"As I previously stated, this test is for endurance. As you can phase through most materials, I want to see how many walls you can get through before you run out of energy." the speakers clicked off as he scribbled notes down on his clipboard. Within seconds, they were turned back on. "Impress me this time." Clicked off. As soon as he was done speaking, the hydraulics behind the walls began to work, maneuvering the panels, lining them up in such a way to create a sort of track out of walls. With the way that it was set up, Richard could only assume he was simply supposed to run around until he wore himself out. That... shouldn't be too hard.

After about a minute, an automated 'go' rang throughout the room. Farther up on the wall a timer started, counting up from zero similar to a stopwatch. Without much thought, Richard began to run around the pre-made track, jumping through the walls with ease. Thankfully these weren't made out of one of the denser materials but after the first couple of laps, it began to grow difficult. He knew that using his power depleted his energy much faster than if he were simply running, and doing both at the same time made it much more difficult than he anticipated. Yet, he had trained for this. That was part of the reason Beata was around. He was a guardian for God's sake! He had to do this! If not for himself then for Lynn.

As time passed, the test grew exponentially more difficult. After about the four minute mark of nonstop running, there was a small voice that rang above the sound of the hydraulics. "Level 2," it said. What did it mean by that? As Richard passed through the walls, he could hear them moving around behind him, and as he came around again, he saw that the material of the panels had changed. Instantly his stomach dropped. Not this again. Yet, he powered through. The material was certainly something more dense but it wasn't horrible... yet. It did take a lot more energy, though, and that worried him.

At the eight minute mark, Richard was struggling. His breathing had become heavy and labored as he pushed himself through the plates, one after the other, over and over again in the same circle he'd been running through for what felt like ages. It was only when the sound of level 3 came over the speakers did he begin to panic again. The panels shifted once more, and as he got around to the first new one, he found it almost impossible to get through. It slowed him down too much. He had lost all of his momentum, stumbling as he fell through it. At this point, sweat poured down his face and soaked his shirt already worn shirt. Breathing at this point had become almost painful as his lungs tried to fill up with as much oxygen as possible to almost no avail.

A click came over the speakers. "Giving up already? I thought you were better than that..." The scientist sneered before the speakers clicked off again.

Richard tried to ignore him but he knew that he couldn't. "I'm not... giving up. Just getting tired is all," he managed between gasps as he pushed forward to continue the test. Everything in his body burned. His lungs begged for more air, his muscles screamed at him to stop, yet he continued to push, forcing himself through each panel that he came up to. After making it through another, he finally looked up at the timer. Ten minutes in. God, it felt like an eternity.

The longer he continued, however, the harder it became. Finally, not too much after he had gotten through a few more panels, his body finally gave out, sending him to the cold hard floor with a loud thud after making it through one final panel. Suddenly panic began to set in. If he couldn't get up, Lynn was a goner. He need to continue. Through painful protests, Richard pushed himself back up to his feet, nearly blacking out as he stood. Somehow, he made it up. It almost felt like a miracle. However, as soon as he went to take a step forward, his vision went black and he found himself falling back to the floor, hitting shoulder first until a loud crack! resonated through the test chamber. Instantly, the guardian fell unconscious.

Silence followed for several minutes until the doctor calmed down enough to speak. Anger and frustration sat deep in hi chest as he watched the guardian fall to the floor, slamming his head on the solid floor. "And again, we wait..." he muttered, scribbling notes down again before phoning to an unknown source. "Grab him and treat him. He's an important test subject, after all. We need him well enough to continue. I know this hinders our progress but it must be done..."

"Uugh..." Richard couldn't bring himself to open his eyes. His head felt like it was in a vice, screaming in pain at every small movement he made as he slowly came to. It made him wish he could fall unconscious again with how excruciating it was. As he lay there, feeling slowly began to come back to the rest of his body. All of his muscles ached and burned from the way he had pushed himself the day before...

Wait, how long had he been out? It only felt like several hours. Maybe a day at most. Was it only a day? Hell, it could have been a week. Months, even. Was there at least a clock in this room? He didn't want to open his eyes. He did anyway, however, knowing that he'd have to eventually. Initially, the harsh light burned as he blinked several times to get used to it. Tears stung his eyes until they finally adjusted, allowing him to look around the room he was held up in. Just as always, it was a solid white, horribly cold, sterile room but it was slightly different than the others. This one was larger with even more machines decorating the walls with an assortment of lights and levers.

With a deep breath, Richard lifted his arm to wipe his eyes, only to be stopped immediately by the all-too-familiar sound of the restraints from earlier. This time, however, it was attached to an arm keeping him down on the bed that he was lying on. Well, he thought it was a bed. As he grew more awake, he came to realize that instead, he was lying on a cold table with only a pillow under his head. The feeling of the metal underneath him instantly deterred him from wanting to be there any further. With a deep breath, he went to sit up, only to have his vision swim, nearly going black again as he did so, his head screaming in pain with the movement that was too quick to handle. Finally, his body woke up fully: he could see and hear again and even feel every inch of his body enough to notice the tight bandages wrapped around his forehead.

Gritting his teeth as he propped himself up, he squeezed his eyes shut as the pain slowly subsided. The dizziness that spread through is body made his stomach churn but staying still long enough ebbed the pain there as well. What had happened in the previous test? The only memories that he could recall were those of running in circles for ages until everything went black. Now, he was here, tied to a cold table in a hospital gown with bandages wrapped around most of his head and even some bandaids on his arms and legs. Not to mention the IV needle sticking out of the back of his hand. Was he even in the same place anymore?

"Ah, good to see you awake! It's been a while," the dreaded familiar voice resonated within the room as Richard gasped in response. Instantly, their eyes locked as the doctor stood from his chair in the corner of the room holding the clipboard that never seemed to leave his side. His face looked like a solid piece of stone, only etched by time, showing the man's age as he approached the table Richard was sitting on. "You continue to amaze me," he said, the corners of his lips turning upwards into a bit of a snarky grin. "Even as you lay unconscious, your body continues to use your gift. I can't tell you how many times you subconsciously slipped through that table you're sitting on. We were going to move you, but it was interesting to watch."

Richard only stared at the man as the distance between the two closed, his mind at a loss for words. It didn't help that the guardian could barely think straight. It took a few minutes, but he finally found something to say. "What... What happened?" He asked before stopping suddenly, the jarring pain making him clench his jaw and hold his head as best as he could with the restraints on his arms.

A deep, hefty sigh came from the doctor as he pulled up his clipboard and began sifting through his notes. "As you were completing the test, you fainted and cracked your head on the floor. It was surprising considering your ability, but it happened nonetheless..." he muttered, folding the pages back over with a hard flick of his wrist. "But now that you're awake, we can continue!" Clasping his hands together, the doctor gave Richard a big, toothy grin.

Those words made Richard's heart sink. As if he weren't broken already, they were still wanting to push him to do more tests... In fact, just by hearing those words, his heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest. What else could they have planned for him? What could they have planned for Lynn?

A sharp gasp emanated from him as his eyes flew open and his heart sank. What had they done to Lynn? He had been out for what he could only assume was for quite some time. The last time that happened, they tortured her, broke her, and made her a useless plaything. Without even thinking, Richard's head flew around until he stared the doctor dead in the eye, panic radiating from him as he did his best to ignore the pain that seared his skull. "What did you do to Lynn?!" he shouted, the despair coating his words.

The doctor blinked for a moment, almost as if he had no idea what the guardian was talking about? It only solidified Richard's guesstimate when he answered, "Who?"

That was all it took for Richard's terror to turn into a deep anger. "Don't act like you don't know who I'm talking about! Where is Brailynn?!" He nearly screamed, pulling hard against the shackles that kept him down as if he were actually going to try to attack the doctor.

After a few moments of silence and sheer confusion, the doctor finally remembered. "Oh! You're little friend!" The few words were quickly followed by a loud bout of laughter at how serious the guardian was, the doctor nearly falling to his knees from how hard his body shook from the gesture. It took a minute or two, but he finally calmed down long enough to wipe a stray tear from his eye and look back at Richard. "Yes, your friend... Brailynn. Would you believe me if I told you that she was never actually here to begin with?"

The words stung harder than Richard could have ever imagined. Instantly, his anger fell into sheer disbelief, his jaw almost dropping to the floor with eyes growing ever wider. He couldn't even find the words to speak as he tried to piece it together. How could that be? It was all so real... She had been there. She acted like her, talked like her... Everything was vividly memorable. How was she not there? "I don't believe you..." he mustered.

It didn't take long for the serious tone to fall back onto the scientist standing before him. Straightening himself out and flattening his lab coat, he took a deep breath and nodded at Richard. "Yes, well... It is true. Whether you believe me or not, it does not make a difference. It was all a hallucination caused by my little subject 82. You do remember it, correct?"

The nod that came from Richard could barely be seen as he tried to comprehend what had happened. It felt as if his whole world was crumbling around him, yet a massive wave of relief washed over him if only for a moment to know that Lynn was actually okay and had been okay this whole time... Maybe. How could he trust the man that had been forcing him to push way past his limits almost to the point of death? Just thinking about it made his brain hurt. "I... I don't believe you," he muttered again, this time barely above a whisper as he tried his best to figure out how it was supposed to work.

A frown quickly caught the doctor's face before he shrugged it away. "No matter. We still have more tests to run. And now that we have found your limits, we don't need her as a distraction any longer. No need to waste my precious materials on something so unusually despicable as yourself. Now," the doctor paused for only a moment to pick up a set of tools that had been set not far from where he was standing, all of which looked like they had been plated with something. After looking at it for just a second longer, Richard could tell that it was the same material that the shackles were made from which sent chills down his spine. No longer could he get away with letting objects pass through him. This guy now had materials that could do real damage. It was easy to tell just how scared the guardian got as the doctor pulled out the instruments.

With yet another large and devious grin, the doctor placed his hands behind his back, his fingers fiddling with the sharp tools he held in his hands. "Let us get started, shall we?"

"I won't let you do anything else to me!" Richard shouted through gritted teeth as he tried to fight the chains that held him to the table. Even still, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get through and it infuriated him. Instead of thinking logically at this point, all he could think about was just trying harder, pulling on the shackles and throwing himself around even harder. "I swear to God when I get out of here... I'm going to--" He began but was quickly cut off as the table he was strapped to toppled to one side, sending itself and Richard to the cold tile floor with a loud and hard crash just from the movements the guardian was making.

Instantly Richard's head began to spin again and his vision blur as he lay on the floor, not even sure where to begin with getting back up. In fact, his body was too weak to even begin trying. As he lay there, he could feel all of the energy he had left leaving his body. Every muscle screamed in protest to any movement while his head exploded with pain as soon as he tried to lift it. So, instead, he gave up and just stayed on the floor, trying his best to ignore the terrible aches that pulsed through his bones and chest.

While all of this went down, the doctor simply watched the guardian make a fool of himself, only to roll his eyes as Richard was sent crashing to the floor. He should have seen this coming. Yet, when the guardian finally lay still, his expression almost dazed and confused, the doctor leaned over, raising an eyebrow and cocking his head to the side. "Going to what? Going to die? Right now that's kind of the track you're on, bud..." he muttered before straightening himself up and pressing down his lab coat. "If you're going to threaten me, you should probably wait until you can follow through with it. I don't have time for these meaningless shenanigans." With a hindered sigh, he tossed down the tools in his hands, coming to the conclusion that he wouldn't need them at this point. This boy was surely too weak to try anything on him right now.

Richard tried to protest the doctor's words, but he knew that he was right. How could he even try to make threats when he's sprawled on the floor still chained to a table while on the verge of passing out again? With a groan from the pain and trying to hold back the tears that stung his eyes, Richard finally just gave up, closing his eyes again and once more falling back into unconsciousness.

____________________________

The pain was still utter torture. As Richard awoke again, he found himself barely even able to see. He could barely hold his eyes open, much less focus on anything. Too much of his attention was spent on the splitting migraine that throbbed his head. As he slowly came to, however, he could feel himself sitting on the ground leaned up against something cold and hard just like everything else in this God-forsaken place. This wasn't new, but the icy metallic feeling certainly was, and the way that the sound of his breath echoed around him was not too comforting either. As his eyes finally focused, he understood where he was, yet he couldn't find it within himself to move.

Every part of Richard's body felt like it was being weighed down by a ton of bricks. Just trying to lift his hand to his face felt like an amazing feat as his eyes glanced around at the large tube he found himself stuck inside. Most of it was made out of a white-coated metal but the front looked like a thick sheet of glass covered in some type of mesh. Wires and lights filled some of the holes in the metal plating making the whole thing that much more terrifying, yet he couldn't find the energy to even try and stand up. So instead, he voted to lie there, waiting on the ever-snide comments of the doctor who was never too far away.

"You're awake," There it was. "You must try harder than this. I can't keep waiting on you to finish your pleasant naps, my friend. Soon I'm going to have to find a way to keep you awake. I really don't want to do that..." Not too far away in a nice, comfortable chair was the doctor sitting with one leg crossed over the other to support the clipboard lying in his lap, his pen tapping impatiently on the paper in front of him.

Richard's still dazed gaze slowly floated in the direction of the scientist's voice. It was difficult to see through the mesh but it didn't take much effort to see how upset he looked on the other side. Instead, the guardian just tried to get answers. "What... What is this?" he asked weakly, flinching quickly from the pain that shot through his head at the attempt to speak.

"Don't worry! You won't have to move at all for this test. Just stay awake. You can do that, right?" The venom in the doctor's words normally would have hurt but Richard just didn't have the energy. Instead, he just closed his eyes again and nodded, still a crumpled ball leaning against the side of the tube. "Also... Do me a favor. Try not to be too loud, okay? This might hurt... a lot." It was those words that suddenly got a reaction out of Richard. His eyes instantly flew open as his body was filled with a short second wind. His head snapped up as he stared at the doctor but it was too late. The switch close by was already flipped as the tube surrounding him whirred to life.

At first, nothing really happened, but soon, Richard began to feel like he was stuck in an oven. His body quickly began to heat up as sweat beaded on his forehead, soaking into the bandages. Within seconds, it quickly grew harder to breathe as it continued to get hotter and stuffier, as if he was being roasted alive. Instead, something even more unimaginable began to happen. The heat that enveloped him turned to pain as every bit of his body began to feel like it was being torn apart piece by piece. A loud shriek began to build up in his throat but was quickly cut off by the sheer excruciating pain. With a weak, trembling hand, Richard tried to look down at himself only to find that he could see himself visibly disappearing. Then, the realization smacked him like a freight train. This thing was forcing his body to become intangible.

It felt impossible, and the longer the machine buzzed, the worse he felt. Every inch of his body felt like it was on fire as it tore itself apart. He tried to stop it from happening but there was just no energy left. All he could do was sit in the midst of the pain and plead for it to stop, gasping for breath and just trying to hold on until it stopped. It would stop... right?

Ages went by before the machine around him began to calm down, finally stopping altogether and leaving Richard sitting in the silence of the still room as his body put itself back together. The only sounds that could be heard came from Richard as the tiny bits of air he could take into his newly reformed lungs felt like sweet heaven among the fire that wouldn't stop burning within him. Yet, over time, it slowly went away, leaving behind a frantic guardian, his eyes wide from the terror he had just faced as the rest of him pushed hard against the side of the machine. His hands grasped for anything they could latch onto as his feet pushed against the glass in front of him. However, nothing budged, not even a little, and the thought of not being able to get out sent terrifying chills down his spine. He couldn't escape this hell... "What the hell is this?!" He shouted, his jaw clenched as the pain finally began to subside.

For about a minute after he asked the question, the doctor simply sat there amazed at how well the machine had worked. A large grin plastered on his face, he let out a giddy laugh before even thinking about answering Richard's question. "What did you ask me? Oh, the machine? Um.. I'm not sure how to explain it..." He paused for a moment, tapping his pen against his bottom lip. "You see, when you use your gift, you literally control the ability to separate the molecules and atoms that make up your body. It's truly incredible! The sheer amount of heat that your body can sustain... I don't get it, but it's fascinating!" The way he spoke sounded like a kid in a candy store. "A-Anyway, so, the point of his machine is basically to act like a giant microwave... sort of. I want to see how thin you can spread yourself, basically. So far, you've certainly been holding yourself back!" The way that the doctor moved almost made him toss everything near him into the air.

Richard had never seen the doctor more excited, all the while, the guardian's heart dropped. This guy was literally cooking him up in a giant fancy machine. Now he was sure that he had to find a way out. Forcing himself to his feet, Richard found himself stumbling this way and that against the sides of the machine as he tried to find the strength to keep standing. Instead, he ended up compromising by leaning face-first into the glass in front of him, his hand weakly hitting it in an attempt to free himself. "You can't do this!" he cried, trying to muster all of the energy he could. "I won't let you do this!"

The doctor paused a moment, staring at Richard in disbelief for only a short moment before he burst into laughter. "And how do you think to stop me? You can't get out of there. I made sure of it. Besides, I'm not done with you yet." With absolutely no hesitation or any chance to prepare, the doctor flipped the switch again, sitting back to keep watch on the monitors that lined the side of the room he was closest to.

At first, it was the same as the previous time. The machine whirred to life and it took several seconds before Richard could feel anything. But after only a short time, the furious burning returned, tearing at every part of his being. A loud cry erupted from his throat as the sheer force of the pain brought him back down to his needs as he tried to find anything to hold onto. As his body split itself apart, he found that he could no longer see, breathe, hear or speak as nothing in his body was actually fully formed in order to do so. Yet, the pain was all too real. The worst part? There was absolutely nothing he could do about it except bear it.

Once again the machine slowed to a stop, finally giving the guardian's body a chance to pull itself back together. As it did so, the screams from the pain within him did not stop as every inch of his skin and even deep down within him felt like it was melting off of his bones. Blisters began to form and already burst on the surface of his skin from head to toe, making it all the more excruciating as he tried to keep from moving. He tried everything within his power to keep calm but the adrenaline pumping through his veins turned his fear into tremors through his body as he gasped for air. "P-Please... m-make it stop..." He begged, his raspy voice no louder than a whisper.

Nothing.

There was no answer. The only thing Richard could hear over the pounding of his own heart and labored breathing was the sound of a pencil scribbling furiously on paper mixed with several giggles and position changes from the doctor. Without a another word, the now all-too familiar sound of the switch flipping instantly made the guardian lose what little hope he had left. Yet again, the machine started up.

Even though he had already felt it twice already, the pain had become no less bearable. Instead, it only magnified as Richard crumpled to the floor, crying for it to stop as his skin bubbled and shredded under the persuasion of the machine. There was nothing he could do but he had to get out of here. He had to.

Suddenly an idea popped into his mind even though he could hardly believe that it would work. With what was left of his grip, the guardian did everything he could do latch onto the floor below him. Through the adrenaline that flowed through him, he had just enough energy for one last-ditch effort to free himself. As the machine roared around him, he tried as hard as he could to focus all of his energy into one spot in the metal and after some time, it somehow began to work. Through the pain, he could feel the disruption in the workings of the massive microwave until in one ear-shattering crash with the sound of metal ripping, both the bottom half of the machine and Richard fell through the floor and into the room underneath.

A loud and desperate gasp erupted from the guardian as he tried to fill his newly formed lungs again, only finding the energy to turn over onto the cold floor of yet anther white and sterile room. Yet, once he could find his focus again and ignore the searing pain of the blisters decorating his body, all he could find himself thinking about was how he had just succeeded. A large grin smeared across his face in his delirious state as a maniacal laugh erupted from this throat while he wallowed in his short victory. In the midst of his laughter, he couldn't have been more thankful that the room he had landed in just so happened to be empty. "Ha haaaa! Take that you fucking piece of shit!" he viciously shouted as loud as he could, not even remotely caring about the spit that came flying out of his mouth with the words as he stared at the ceiling above him.

But he had spoken too soon. Within seconds, a loud alarm blared through the building, filling the halls and rooms with an ear-splitting howl of bells and droning tones among the red flashing lights. Almost immediately, the smile that donned the guardian's face vanished in a flash as he was brought back to reality. He couldn't stay here. He had to get out. But now everyone was looking for him.

"God damn it..."

Time was most definitely against him. He needed to get up and go. He couldn't worry about anything else. As the alarms blared around Richard, he could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins, but even as he tried to stand up, his head began to spin, bringing him right back to square one. There was almost no strength left in him to move but if he stopped, he knew he was dead.

Pushing himself up again and forcing himself to stand even through the excruciating pain that was the popping of multiple blisters on his skin, Richard staggered for a moment, trying to let the lightheaded feeling pass as his vision went black for a second. His hand quickly found the edge of a nearby table to keep himself propped up while the other latched onto his head in a vain hope that it would make the terrible pain pass faster. Instead, he was interrupted by the sound of the intercom system clicking on throughout the building.

"Get the squad in here! He does not leave! Someone check the security cameras!" It was strange to hear the doctor so frantic suddenly as if he had lost one of his most prized possessions. It made the guardian laugh if only for a second as he tried to make a plan in his head as to what to do. He didn't have much longer. He fell through the floor; they would know where he is. At most, he figured he only had one more minute.

There was another click of the intercom. "I hope you are proud of yourself for wasting so much time. You are only hurting yourself. Good luck escaping." The words felt like knives in Richard's skin. The scientist had quickly changed his tune and suddenly sounded... confident. This was Richard's chance to prove him wrong but it wasn't very comforting to officially know that everyone was on the lookout. How in the hell was he supposed to escape?

With a deep breath to calm himself, the guardian finally decided to move. He hurried towards the door as fast as he could even though each movement of his limbs burned like fire from what he had just been put through. It also didn't help that he was still wearing the hospital gown that barely did anything aside from covering up his front half, so there was no comfort in clothing either. Trying his best to ignore it for now, he threw open the large metal door of the room he was in and stuck his head into the hallway. As he looked around, it was surprisingly empty, but on closer inspection, he saw all of the other hallways that branched off of this one to his left and to his right. Oh joy...

So, step one: figure out what floor he was on. Turning to look at the sign next to the door, it read "Room B525." There was hope, then. Shockingly, they were only holding him five levels below the ground, except that meant that there were at least five flights of stairs he had to climb. Just thinking about that hurt him both physically and mentally but if it meant getting out of here, he would do it. Preparing himself, Richard finally took off out of the room, carefully making his way through the hallways in any attempt to try to find the stairs. He took the first hallway that branched from where he was only to see that it stretched down to a dead end. However, even on that hallways, there were several more that shot off from it to reveal even more rooms and locations. God, how big was this place?

Hallway after hallway was just a dead end, and each time he saw one, the harder it was to keep up his motivation, and the longer he ran around, the more fear struck his heart and his gut. It was only a matter of time before someone would find him. "Come on... where is it?" he said through clenched teeth at himself until a dreadful sound filled his ears.

In the distance, several doors slammed open with a brutal force as an innumerable amount of footsteps echoed off the walls of the corridors, making Richard jump out of his skin as he whipped around to face the source of the noise, but only after a second, there was a shouted order and the noise came to a halt.

"Split up. Two-man squad down every hallway. We want him alive." As soon as the orders were given, the footsteps resumed as the guardian backed up to try to hide himself only to be backed up against yet anther dead end. Damn, was this place a maze? On the bright side, however, he was sure he found out where the staircase was, and instead of walking away from the noise, he dared to move closer. They hadn't been long. They could still be close to his escape. Stumbling over himself and gritting his teeth as he moved, he tried to keep all of his focus on his goal. He was not going to let the pain hold him back. Not yet.

Turning corners this way and that, he made his way around, avoiding the corridors where boots were stamping on hard tile. It was surprisingly easier than he was anticipating but it didn't help his nerves at all, especially as he rounded the final corner and came face to face with some of the guards. "Freeze!" one of them shouted. With a sharp gasp and a quick reaction, Richard stumbled backwards, tripping and falling flat on his back before trying to scramble to his feet again. Within seconds, he could feel his chest tightening as his breathing became more labored, and he could feel his heart leap into his throat as the sound of blood filling his ears overpowered anything that the guards were trying to scream at him.

It was only when he got back on his feet did he realize the real situation he was in. Three guards moved in quickly around him, pointing guns in his face while the staircase was just out of reach beyond them. "Don't move!" the guard screamed, his gun trained on Richard's chest, his finger looking a little too happy on the trigger. For the moment, Richard complied."Now all you have to do is stay where you are look pretty. We're going to have the doctor come back for you."

Those could have been the worst words Richard heard. Instead of gunning him down right then and there and getting this all over with, they were going to hand him back to Satan himself. At first, the guardian was almost too mortified to move but as his brain finally began to process what he was going through, he began to realize that they probably don't even have the right weapon to stop him in the first place. Now that he knew his limits, traditional bullets didn't faze him nor did their tranquilizer darts they used on him the first time. However, the energy that it would take to phase through them was probably too much to ask from his body...

Instead, with a highly impulsive decision, the guardian took a deep breath and once again let himself drop through the floor, yet he couldn't have been anywhere close to ready to break the fall. Landing awkwardly on his arm on the tile floor below, it took everything within him to suppress a loud cry as an audible crack! resonated from his forearm. He broke it. There was no doubt. To make things worse, he was now farther underground than where he started.

Trying to hold back the tears that were already overflowing from his eyes, he struggled to get himself back onto his feet, his whole body trembling from the pain and pushing himself too hard. He wasn't out of here yet, though. He had to keep going. Pressing forward, he decided against trying to use this stairwell after what had just happened. Turning around, he figured there would have to be another one somewhere. Pulling his broken arm tight into his side, he began the search again, poking around corners and avoiding staff members. Several times, he had to make his way around through the walls of different rooms in search of his next escape.

It felt like an eternity before the light flashed at the end of the tunnel. As he searched the hallways, he could hear the guards after him, stampeding around the corridors in search of him once more, but with a stroke of luck, he found what he was looking for. On the other side of the building, a emergency stairwell led all the way up to the first floor... or at least, that's what he had hoped. He went for the handle to swing open the door except instead, he was met with nothing more than a locked door with a card reader on the handle.

"We have a visual!" The same voice shouted again, this time a lot more determined with a hint of anger. Instantly, the troops began to rally, focused on Richard's location.

Whirling around to see the bad sign, the guardian gasped before willing up his energy and pushing through the door. It was getting tougher as he fought against his body to fall asleep, but he managed it. As soon as he was through and into the stairwell, it was almost like a huge wave of relief washed over him. He was almost there. Now he just had to get up without getting caught.

At first, he raced up the stairs like it was nothing. It hurt, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. One flight, no problem. He was relieved once more to see that there were no guards left on the fifth floor where he had left them. However, as he climbed to the fourth, he could hear the loud click and squeal of the stairwell door open up underneath him. Just what he needed. Immediately, the stairwell was bombarded with the reverb of clinking weapons and stomping boots as several men filed up the stairs behind him. Realizing his position, Richard didnt' hesitate any longer, pushing himself up the stairs as fast as he could. It came at a cost, however.

As the guardian climbed, the more he began to stumble and trip over his own feet. On more than one occasion, his shins met with the corners of the stairs as he pulled himself up with his one good arm using the railing. Through heaving breathing, burning muscles and painful blisters, it was hell trying to get out. No matter how hard he tried, though, the ever-present sound of those following him were getting closer and closer. They still knew he was here.

In a panic, Richard finally decided it was time to duck out again. Pushing his way through one of the door, he found himself awkwardly running down the main hall of the second floor. Just seeing that, he could already feel a little bit more motivation push him forward. He hadn't realized that he was that high up already, but he wasn't done. As soon as the door latched behind him, Richard did the first thing he could think of. Instead of running for another exit, he leaped through the wall closest to him and ended up in what looked to be a storage closet of sorts. Only one door enclosed a small and cramped space. It was dark and the guardian could hardly move but he was not about to get curious in a place like this, and since he phased into it, he could get out. That's all that mattered.

The sound of several angry men bursting through the door and running down the hall was almost just as terrifying as being chased by them up the stairs, but it didn't take long for the sound on the other side of the wall to fade into nothing. It was definitely times like these that Richard was never happier to have his gift. With a deep, labored breath, he pulled himself out of the tiny room and back into the hallway where he started. Surprisingly, it looked as if the coast was clear until his eyes landed on a figure on the opposite side of the hallway. At first, he could have sworn that it was the little boy that had followed him to several rooms when he had first gotten here. What did the doctor call him? Subject eighty... what, eight two maybe? But after doing a double check, he could only feel a sense of dread as instead, he saw a crumpled figure lying on the floor, blonde hair sprawled out on the ground around her.

The sight suddenly made Richard stop dead in his tracks. As he focused a little harder through the haze blurring his vision, he could easily make out the shape of Brailynn lying there on the cold hard floor. At the angle at which he saw her, she looked awful with no energy left to even stand. She wasn't supposed to be here... Why was she still here? "Brailynn..?" Richard called softly to the bundle of brokenness down the way, surprised by the gruff voice that escaped his throat.

"R-Richard?"

The girl's hazel eyes blinked open, not daring to quite move. Her body seemed far too weak and feeble to even hold itself up, her skin was pale and paper-think, she looked like she might have even crumbled then and there if you dared to move her. Still, she fought on, one last apparent spark of strength and defiance as she clenched her fist against the freezing tile, urging her face up just a few mere inches off the ground.

"W-where are you going?" The words escaped her cracked, trembling lips. "The guards..." Warm teardrops ran down her cheek, dusting against the soft floor. "Were you just going to leave me here?!"

"B-Brailynn..." His voice shook. This was impossible. He didn't want to believe it. The doctor himself even said that it was only an illusion, but he felt compelled to run to her side as a nagging feeling in the back of his mind grew more and more intense. His feet even began to move on their own towards her as she called out to him, breaking his heart the more she cried. He needed to escape but he wasn't going to leave her. Not now.

Yet, the longer he trudged and shuffled down the hallway, the more he forced himself to try to think logically. His feet being led by emotion, he finally pulled himself to a stop only a few feet from where he had started. It tore him apart to leave her, but he had to believe the doctor. Lynn wasn't actually here, and he needed to get out if he were ever to see the real one again... right? This wasn't her. "You're not Lynn... You're not Lynn..." he kept repeating to himself as he tried to tear his eyes away from her silhouette.

Somehow, the more that he said that to himself, the more he began to believe it through the adrenaline and pain that enveloped his dazed mind, and before he knew it, he found himself shouting it down the hall at the shape of his significant other. "You're not Brailynn you monster!" he yelled as he backed up again towards the stairwell, tripping and stumbling over his own feet as he did so, only catching himself on the wall with his bad shoulder as he fell, trying to get away from the illusion and the urge to find Lynn while a sharp pain shot through his bad arm.

Bursting through the door once more, Richard proceeded to push himself up the stairs, trying to ignore the ever-increasing intensity of Brailynn's cries and screams as he left. He could feel her anger and rage pierce his heart as tears flowed down his face while he pressed onward. Up the stairs he stumbled and crawled until at last the final door was in sight. A wave of relief washed over him as he finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and suddenly with a newfound energy, he shoved himself through the door to find himself in one last hallway leading to an open room not too far away.

With an almost crazed but giddy laugh, he tried to take off running only to find himself going this way and that from the way that his head was spinning and sending him dizzily tumbling down the hall. However, no matter how many times he had to start over with his run, he was happy to get into the open room at the other end, bursting into a busy scene of hustle and bustle. All around him, people were moving in and out of the building as sunlight poured through the large glass windows at the front of the building. The beeping of metal detectors in the distance from the security personnel had never sounded more amazing just as the sound of several high heels clicking hard on the tile floor from businesswomen had never been more satisfying.

Of course, as Richard charged in, the hustle and bustle around him screeched to a halt as all eyes turned to him in an instant. As he looked around as best as he could, he was almost amazed to see just how many people were there watching him and wondering what he would do next. All of these people... There had to be someone who could help him right? He stood there, looking around to meet all of the terrified and morbidly curious stares that were coming his way. As he opened his mouth to speak, he suddenly found himself meeting the floor again as finally his body just gave out from underneath him. Crumbling to his hand and knees with a loud cry of pain as he tried to use his bad arm, he finally fell to the cold floor, staring at the high ceilings decorated with track lights and a very modern chandelier. The next few sounds he heard never would have brought him as much joy in any other situation other than this one: Several gasps filled the room as he fell as a few of the young men in the area jumped to his rescue.

"Someone call 110!" A man's voice caught Richard's ear as he did everything he could to stay awake. Suddenly the young man's face was in his as what was left of the guardian's sight focused on the panicked way that the young man's gaze flashed over his body. It wouldn't have been a pretty sight for the spectators. What's better than seeing a half dead twenty year-old in a hospital gown running out of the side stairwell in a crazed and dazed state? "What the hell happened to you?" His voice once again brought Richard back to the present after his mind began to wander to how this whole situation could be taken, but as much as the guardian wanted to speak, he couldn't. Instead, he continued to lie on the floor trying desperately to catch his breath as an unreasonably warm spot began to form under the bandages on his forehead.

"You know, don't worry about it. Help is on the way. Just... Stay with us, okay?" With a small head nod, Richard smiled as he began to close his eyes. All he needed was a short nap then he would be good to go. Just one night of blissful sleep...

However, before he knew it, he slipped back into darkness.

____________________________________

As soon as Richard realized that he was sleeping again, a large gasp filled up his lungs as his eyes flew open and he tried to sit up from where he was sprawled out. Panic swept through him as he couldn't help but feel as if everything he had experienced was just a dream. His lungs protested violently as he did so, the rest of his body following suit and forcing the guardian to lie back down. As he came to, his vision came back first. As he looked around, he found himself in another sterile room but it was more relaxed than he was used to. A television was mounted in the corner of the room while several empty chairs sat lovingly next to a window not too far from where he lay.

Next to come back was both feeling and hearing. As his body began to calm down, he began to slowly and carefully move different parts of his body, wiggling his fingers and toes before moving on to rotating his neck. The last movement, he learned to instantly regret however as a splitting headache began to set in, focusing around the front of his head before he could feel the tightness of the bandages that wrapped up a lot of his arms and legs. It was particularly tight on his right arm, though, and as he looked down, he found a big white cast holding it firmly in place next to his side while an IV was stuck in his skin just underneath it. Then finally came the sound of the heart monitor next to him. It was all so weird. He had never been in a hospital before now but he couldn't have been happier to see one after being stuck in that hell hole for so long.

It didn't take too long for the door to his room to swing open, nearly sending Richard out the bed from sheer fright as his head whirred around to see who had walked in, his breath getting caught in his throat as his heart tried to jump out of his chest. His hands balled into fists as if he were ready to fight as his eyes looked wild and terrified.

"Whoa, calm down there. Rise and shine, mate," the doctor said with a rather cheerful attitude but she kept her distance as Richard took the time to look her over. As soon as he could hear her voice, he finally realized that he was still in the hospital. After several deep and painful breaths, he put his left hand to his chest and laid back on the pillows that cradled his head.

"S-Sorry..." he managed to get out in a whisper as he tried to keep himself focused and collected.

"No problems here!" the doctor chirped, grabbing the clipboard from the end of the bed and shuffling through it. "Soooo Mister... Unknown. Good to see you awake! You've been out for quite some time now. We've been taking very good care of you, though." She paused a moment, looking over everything before setting down the clipboard and staring at Richard. "You've been through quite a lot these past several months, haven't you? You came in with a cracked skull, serious concussion, a broken arm among several scrapes and contusions... not to mention the second degree burns that covered almost every inch of your skin." She stopped for another moment as if she had to let all of that sink in for herself. "We were able to clean up the burns fairly easily. They've healed quite a bit! You might find yourself with some slight scarring, however. As for your arm, we wrapped it up nice and tight! It broke only in one place so it was easy to put back together, but you'll have to wear that cast for at least another six weeks. Your head is what we were most concerned about..." She muttered, the tone of her voice turning more worried and concerned rather than informative and chipper like it had just been.

Calming himself down, Richard listened to the doctor silently, trying to keep himself still to prevent further pain even though a sort of numbness flowed through his body making him feel slightly like he was floating on air. Keeping his tired and weary eyes on her, he watched as she walked around and sat at the foot of his bed. "What... Is it?" he asked with a raspy voice, the effort of trying to speak draining him.

"Well..." She was trying to figure out the best way to word it. "You have suffered serious injury to your head. You have blunt-force trauma to your forehead, cracking the bone in one place and giving you a rather serious concussion. After running tests, we have no found any abnormalities that come with this kind of injury, but we won't know for sure until you're able to move around and do your typical activities." With a big sigh, she looked away from him for a moment as if she were trying to prepare herself for a rather big moment. When she looked back, she was almost avoiding his gaze. "I know it's none of my business but... May I ask what happened to you? How did you find yourself in this mess? How did you get into the Max Planck Institute?"

Suddenly the guardian froze. He had wanted to forget what had happened but now that she was bringing it up, he could vividly remember everything that had happened. Oh, how he hated that he couldn't tell her without giving up any secrets he had to keep as a guardian at Beata. The sudden thought of his job suddenly opened his eyes to reality. As he lay there staring at the ceiling he instantly remembered how in his escape, he had mercilessly left his peers in that hell. Matthew and Connor haunted his memories while the small nagging feeling in the back of his mind continued to tell him how he had even left Lynn there and there was no way he could help them... if they were even still there. Tears began to sting his eyes again as he became lost in thought, completely forgetting about the doctor's questions.

It didn't take long for the doctor to realize that she had overstepped her boundaries. "O-Oh, my apologies. Please, forget I said anything. I do have some more pertinent questions if you can answer, but please take your time. We found no ID on you. May we get your name and where you came from?" she asked, standing up quickly and grabbing her notes to try to fix her mistake.

As he was pulled back to reality once more, Richard found himself trembling in the bed, the dark thoughts in his mind pulling him down hard into the terror that was that nightmare. "My... I'm Richard Sanford. United States..." he whispered weakly. "Please send me back..."

The doctor scribbled on her notes, trying to make sure that she wrote it down carefully. It was a shock to hear that someone from the States had been through so much here in Germany. It almost broke her heart to see how much this man had gone through. "Well, Mr. Sanford. When you can be released, we will make sure you are transported back home. How does that sound?"

The guardian nodded weakly once more, relief washing over him in waves at the promise of going home. He would make it back alive. But then he had an even more daunting task: how was he going to face the headmaster about losing two students? Surely, he would understand. "Thank you."