The Consequences of Playing God - Part 1

Posted on Sat Mar 4th, 2023 @ 8:59pm by First Lieutenant Bethany Harrison & Private Mattias Tonelly & General Dyami Bentley (Tribal : Bent Leaf)
Edited on on Sat Mar 4th, 2023 @ 8:59pm

Mission: The Mutant Underground
Location: Underground Base
Timeline: Present Day

When Bethany had awoken from her heartbreaking slumber, Dyami had allowed her to gather a few things from the house and gave her some time alone with Jon. During that time, Jon had grown more stable, as he always did when she was close. She lovingly groomed him and dressed him in his favorite suit, down to the fan-folded pocket square and platinum cufflinks.

She opened a little wooden box that had seen better days, and pulled out a picture of Jon’s son, and the small, worn token that marked his third year sober after his relapse when he lost his leg. The young woman tucked the picture of the teenage boy into his inner coat pocket next to his heart, then slid the token into his right pants pocket.

The next items that she pulled out made her pause. She turned the wedding bands over in her fingers, reading the matching inscriptions on the inside. Until time ends Then she slowly slipped his onto his finger. She ran her fingers lovingly down his face, where she had once left horrible scratches, then kissed his forehead, then his lips. “I love you.”

Bethany barely managed to keep herself together as they went through the process of putting him into the alien technology that would house him for the duration, and she nearly bit through her tongue when they wheeled in a glass-covered coffin-like container to put him into, flinching when the bolts locked the lid into place. She tried to scream when they turned everything on, to make them stop, to make them leave him alone! But when the soft blue glow surrounded Jon, she gasped sharply. Her vision narrowed to a blinding point, and she felt the sound and sensation of something akin to a high tension wire stretching to its snapping point. Then there was a searing agony that ripped through her chest and dropped her to the floor.

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Twenty-eight hours later Bethany’s eyes snapped open. They hadn’t expected the shock of putting Jon into stasis to nearly kill her. The utter and complete silence from him had almost been too much for her to take. At least she had been able to tell that he was there before. Now the only remnant of his existence was a laser-edged emptiness that continuously gnawed at her very core.

“Restraints and a suppression chamber. Impressive. Who did I hurt?” Bethany asked, glancing coolly towards the large pane of reflective glass across from her. The young woman was pale, streaks of white even running through her unnaturally thick hair. She was laying on a bed in restraints that she could have easily burned away with her powers, had the chamber not kept that from happening. Not that she even tried. “I assume, since I’m awake, that it worked?”

Mattias looked at his friend and hero, through the thick glass, as she flexed against her restraints. He made sure the bandages covering his burns were hidden from her sight.

After she had collapsed, he instinctively rolled over to her side and reached down to help her. The instant he touched her, there was a reaction. He was thrown clear of her by a blast of searing heat and light. Had his enhanced healing ability not already been working to rebuild his body, he might have died right there.

After he was treated, he told Dyami that he didn't blame Beth for the attack, and he didn't want her to know about it, if she didn't remember doing it. He didn't want her to feel any more grief about things.

Dyami listened to the boy express his thoughts on the incident and responded, “Well it is time you learned another thing about Beth.” He smiled and continued, “Do not ever lie or hide something from her. She might not see through it right away, but she will know something is not right and she will find out. And it will hurt when she does, trust me.” Dyami put his hand on the young man's shoulder and continued, “She is the strongest willed person I have ever met. She can deal with this, although it will be touch and go for a while.”

Dyami reached out and pressed the intercom button in front of him. “It is good to see that you are awake, Stesi. How are you feeling?”

Bethany sighed heavily and laid her head back on the pillow, staring up at the paneled domed ceiling above her. “Let’s see,” she said, stretching a bit, flexing sore muscles, taking a mental note of her battle readiness, as was her way. “I can’t do anything about my ghastly appearance, and the suppression chamber makes feeding a bit difficult. Then there’s the searing void in my chest that I can’t seem to get rid of. But I feel great. Really.”

The Indian man glanced briefly at Mattias before continuing. “Is it safe to say that you do not want to cause harm to yourself or others who do not deserve it?”

“Give me a break, Old Man,” Bethany said, waiting patiently for the techs to free her. She glanced down at the window and rolled her eyes. “If I die, Jon dies. Stasis or not. Hurting myself is out of the question. And I may be a monster, but I’m not that kind of monster.

Besides, there’s no benefit to hurting innocents.” The green eyed brawler chuckled a bit darkly and shrugged, laying her head back. “So, who did I hurt? I’m guessing that’s why you’re going on about that.”

“Beth, I am asking the same questions you always get when you go through severe trauma and end up passing out for over a day.” Dyami said with a chuckle, “I am judging your mental state. Give me a moment and I will let the technicians in to release you.”

The door to her right made an audible popping sound and the sound of pressurized air venting was heard. After a moment the door slid open quietly on its hinges revealing it to be more of a vault door than an ordinary hospital door. “There. Matty and I will be there in a bit.”

“That’s right. The same questions I always get when I’ve accidentally hurt someone, or destroyed something, and wind up in a suppression chamber,” Bethany countered, glancing over at the techs as they came in to release her from the straps that were holding her in place. It wasn’t a long process, and she shooed them away after they unhooked the monitor leads.

“Why won’t you answer me?” The green-eyed brawler asked, sighing again. She sat up on the bed as soon as she got the option, stretching again. The already pale woman managed to blanch even further. “I didn’t kill someone, did I?” She asked, trying to remember anything at all past the blue glow of the coffin-like machine, and failing miserably.

“No one is dead,” Dyami said as he pushed Mattias through the entrance into the room. “You did lightly fry our friend here though. He wanted to not tell you, out of a misguided fear of it hurting you to know. I explained that there was no way to hide something like that from a human lie detector like you.”

Dyami gave the girl a small hug and smiled widely. “I am glad you are okay. I did not know you would react that way when he went into stasis or I would have warned you. For that I am sorry.”

Bethany stiffened slightly at Dyami’s hug, but only for a brief moment. Everything was still so raw, that just being around people at the moment was almost painful. She returned the hug briefly, then shrugged, as she said, “It’s not like any of us really knew what to expect, I guess.”

Then her green gaze moved to Mattias and she said, “I’m sorry that I hurt you, kid. I swear it wasn’t intentional. But we need to get some things clear right now. You tried to touch me again, didn’t you? One, don’t touch me until we know each other better. This is for your safety, I’m really not trying to be a bitch about it. Two, don’t lie to me, or hide things from me. I can’t work with someone that won’t communicate with me honestly. I have to be able to trust you.”

Mattias nodded as he listened. He then replied. "Well, as far as the first point goes, we will have to just get to know each other quickly. My parents raised me to always help those that are hurting." He shrugged as he spoke. "I don't even think about it anymore. I see someone hurting, I go to them and try to help."

He then sighed softly and nodded again. "As for the second point…fair enough. I won't keep anything from you, from either of you," he looked to Dyami, then back to Bethany, "ever again. I give you my word of honor."

“I appreciate that, Matty. And it’s not about just getting to know you,” Bethany said, glancing at Dyami and raising an eyebrow, then she turned her gaze back to Mattias. “It’s about trust. And in the interest of honesty, you’re male, so you get the short end of the stick with me automatically. I know that it’s not fair, but I don’t even think about it, I just react, because of what the men from the commune did to me growing up. They called it training, but it was actually torture. Dyami says I have PTSD, or something. I just know it’s what happens when men touch me. I...break them. Hell, I almost killed Jon...” her voice faded off and her gaze faltered, finding the floor, before she finished that thought, gasping a bit at the bittersweet pain that the memory caused. “...a few times.”

His eyes never left her face. "It's okay, Beth," Mattias replied honestly. "I trust you completely, so…we're halfway there already!" He gave her a lop-sided grin as he finished.

The young light-bearer chuckled and shook her head. “I don’t know whether to like how innocently naïve that you are, or if I should worry for you. I admit, I still don’t know too much about the real world, I guess. But I’ve learned that it isn’t much different from the commune. People hate you for no reason other than the way you were born, and will hurt you in any way that they can. And this life that you’ve chosen? You’ll find friends, sure, but be careful who you trust.”

Mattias nodded in agreement. "Oh, I do understand that rational. I'm in this chair because someone didn't like me just because of how I looked." He shrugged again. "But there's nothing I can do to change those with small, closed minds. All I can do is protect my friends and those that can't protect themselves."

The long haired Indian watched the others speak waiting for a lull before interjecting, “Then, one of the first things that we are going to train you in is situational awareness and tactical decision making.”

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TBC
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