Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
The voices came from far away, like in a dream, but Sapphire Angel realized she wasn't dreaming. The cold floor under her body and the faint din of voices told her as much.
She forced her eyes open, looking through the tangle of hair hanging in her face. She didn't have the strength to lift her head, but as her eyes fluttered back and forth she could see she was naked, laying on her side on the floor of a cage. The cage was tall and rectangular, with thick steel bars and a floor of cold metal.
Then it all came back to her. The fight with Mantis. Him forcing her into the elevator. Her capture. The men stripping her costume from her body. Them strapping her to the table. The scientist taking her blood. And the eyes. She remembered the eyes of the men in the room like it was a dream, but she knew it wasn't. Eyes filled with awe, surprise, curiosity, and even hunger.
She froze as she thought of her captors looking at her, without her costume. Both her costume and her necklace protected her identity, although she didn't understand why. How long had she been unconscious? Long enough for them to determine her identity? Perhaps they were consumed with trying to unravel her other mysteries, such as the secret to her extraordinary physical abilities. Or perhaps photographs of the great Sapphire Angel, defeated and naked, were already circulating around the Internet. If so, would anyone believe the naked woman was Sapphire Angel, without the costume?
She gave a hard swallow and pushed herself up onto trembling arms, raising her torso. Even that took effort. She was only in place for a second when the dizziness hit. She gagged, nearly vomiting. The room spun, and her head dangled down between her outstretched arms as she tried to steady herself. Closing her eyes, she pushed herself up to a sitting position and leaned her back against the bars in the back of the cage. She took deep breaths.
This time she eased her eyes open. The room bobbed, but gradually settled into place. They had done a number on her. She didn't know if it was from the gas in the elevator, the blood loss, other experiments they had performed on her while she was unconscious, or a combination of it all, but even if they hadn't caged her, she was in no condition to go anywhere.
With her vision steady, she examined the area beyond the cage. She was in the same inner room where they had drawn her blood. She saw the table where they had strapped her down. The only difference in the room was that a metal panel covered the large window to the exterior room, shielding this area from the outside.
Several scientists worked at the tables around the inner room. The lead scientist, Roy Valik, stood at the nearest table, his excitement palpable. He held her radiant blue and white costume in one hand and scanned it with a device he held in his other hand. The device's appearance reminded her of the scanners used by grocery store clerks. Other scientists worked at other tables, holding devices similar to Valik's gadget, and scanned every piece of her costume, from her boots, to her tights, to her gloves.
She spotted her necklace in the hands of a woman at a table a few feet away. Beth swallowed. The sight of her necklace in someone else's hands emphasized her plight. She wished she could simply hold her fist to her neck and summon her items back onto her body, but, as she had learned since becoming Sapphire Angel, the transformation didn't work that way. Once she summoned her costume to her and became Sapphire Angel, she could only make the next transformation in one direction — back to whatever she had been wearing before transforming into her costume. And she needed to be wearing the necklace to make that transformation.
Without the necklace, she was helpless in the hands of these men and women. Their actions and the earlier taking of her blood, coupled with the purpose of the Enigma Project, revealed their intentions. They were trying to find out the secret to her powers. A secret she didn't fully understand herself.
As she sat naked on the cold metal floor of the cage, Conner's warnings about the dangers of her chosen life came back to her. He had been right. These people had targeted her. She was alone, powerless and afraid. She no longer felt like a superheroine, even though in the eyes of her captors she was still Sapphire Angel, world-reknowned heroine. At best she was now a fallen, helpless heroine.
Conner knew she was here, but what did it matter? The flaw in their security perimeter had turned out not to be a flaw at all, but a baited trap to ensnare her. She chastised herself. In hindsight, it all seemed so obvious. A facility with such impeccable security wouldn't leave such a glaring vulnerability. A gap in cameras. An elevator key card left laying about. She had been stupid, or blinded by her eagerness to find Eric. She may have stopped short of walking into the elevator on her own, but she should have expected someone trying to spring it upon her.
Sapphire Angel again thought back to being stripped naked in front of all these people. Her face burned red. Just a day earlier, she had walked through the halls of this same facility, proud and with all eyes watching her in wonder. Now she sat on the cold floor, stripped, depowered, and thoroughly shamed. She was supposed to be invincible, yet had been powerless to stop the indignity of them peeling off her famous costume, piece by piece.
The lead scientist looked over and noticed she had awakened. He set her costume and his scanner down on the table, and walked toward her. Conscious of her nakedness, she turned one leg over the other to cover herself as best she could as she sat on the floor, and held one arm over her chest. She needed the other arm to hold herself steady, so she didn't topple over.
Valik stopped in front of the cage. "Your bloodwork was normal. I must say, you are quite the mystery, Sapphire Angel." He paused, narrowing his eyes and rubbing his chin as he studied her. “You perhaps even look… different now, just a little, than I remember from your earlier visit. The same, yet different. Why is that? Is it simply because of how grand you appear in your costume? Or something else?”
Sapphire Angel glared at him, but said nothing. The man frowned.
"Please understand this wasn't my idea. As much as I want to find out how a woman like you becomes so strong and powerful, I had nothing to do with your capture. I'm not a criminal."
Anger flared in Sapphire Angel's eyes. "Not a criminal? You're experimenting on a human being."
The man paused, as if contemplating her words. "I'm just following orders. I admit I wanted to get to the bottom of your secrets, but not like this."
"You could stop this. Help me get out of here."
He shook his head. "I'd be putting myself at grave risk to do that. And now that we've started, I'm too curious about your secrets to stop. A woman is supposedly bulletproof, yet can be pierced by needles? A mighty hero who rescues other, but is now in dire need of rescue herself? I'm sorry, but I must continue. There's so much to learn. Are you only impervious to bullets, and not sharp objects? Or did that gas do something to your system? Or is the secret in your costume? Is that why you now seem weak as a kitten? Or is it the gas again? I need to know."
She stared at him, with one thought creeping into her mind.
"What are you going to do with me when you're done?"
Valik shrugged. "It's not up to me. You're mine for as long as I need you, to complete my research. When I'm done, Mr. Devlin will decide. He may keep you around, perhaps throwing you in with the others, and send your things off to the warehouse with the other items we're not supposed to have. With his personality, he might be amused by having a famous superheroine as a prisoner. Or perhaps you'll meet an untimely end and he'll keep your items as a reminder of getting the best of you."
Throwing you in with the others. The words hit her like a thunderbolt. Could "the others" include Eric? The thought gave her hope, but a spike of fear jolted Sapphire Angel as the reality of his other words hit home. What was worse — death or remaining as a prisoner? At least as a prisoner, she might have a chance for escape.
Valik seemed to notice her fear. "I can probably make things better for you if you cooperate."
"Cooperate?"
"You've proven to be a tough nut to crack, Sapphire Angel. My people performed some preliminary analysis on you while you were unconscious, and we'll do some more testing after the drugs from the gas leave your system, to make sure they didn't suppress any of your abilities. But so far, although we're still waiting for some test results, there seems to be nothing unusual about you, aside from you being a prime physical specimen. We're currently testing your items, to see if that's the answer, but it could be hours or even days for our machines to finish their work and return the results. We will find the answer, make no doubt about it, but even when the data comes back, those results will take us quite some time to decipher and analyze. Save us that time and tell us how you get your powers, and I'll do my best to persuade Mr. Devlin to spare you."
Spare you. Sapphire Angel tensed and shook her head, but said nothing. She didn't want him to learn he was right — there was a secret to her powers. Further, once they had what they wanted from her, or learned just how little she understood of her powers, she might be expendable. She needed to let this play out as long as possible, until she could find a way to escape.
"I'm not telling you anything," she said, shrinking away from the man.
Valik looked at her with sad eyes. "Suit yourself," he said. "But know this could get unpleasant for you. I guess I should get back to work."
She tensed as he turned from her and headed back toward her costume. The total helplessness of her situation settled in.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
.....Okay, it’s settled. This is the moment that OFFICIALLY makes Valik surpass Tristan in terms of ruthlessness. And I learned that “immune to bullets” =/= “invincible”.
All of it would definitely not fly with traditional research integrity statutes these days. The fact that they just took her against her will, stripped her naked, and placed her in a cage like some kind of animal.....ugh.....the mixture of sadness and anger I felt was palpable, I tell you. I mean.....in a way.....at least he’s not personally violating her? Like.....making excessive physical contact? He’s definitely a learner and a researcher---not an abuser or attacker---but this is all really devastating nonetheless. A different type of monster, who’s just as bad, if not worse. I’d imagine that if Valik weren’t so eager to find out the secrets behind Sapphire Angel’s powers, he might’ve considered taking her up on her offer to help her stop the “Enigma Project”.
So yeah, it’s not looking good. At best, we’re looking at being held here for a long time before being “thrown in with the others”, presumably as perpetual prisoners alongside Eric, like Valik explained. And at worst, we’re looking at literal DEATH. Props to Sapphire for not giving in to Valik’s offer to just tell her about her powers, though her thought process was indeed right; she herself didn’t know much about them in the first place.
I’m really wondering about what Devlin’s going to about this whole situation. He’s out and about right now meeting with someone, but oh boy, is he going to be pleased whenever he gets back. I’d imagine that even if Sapphire escapes alone, she’ll probably have to deal with Mantis and some goons on the way out, unless he left the premises entirely. Maybe one of the scientists could make a lucky mistake, accidentally fumble with the necklace, and drop it near the cage, allowing Sapphire to take it, make her transformation, and get out of there. Or Conner, Ross, and Jack can break in. Or maybe she’ll get thrown in with Eric and collaborate with him to escape. OR maybe she’ll just die here for good and someone new will take up the mantle for the next novels. So many possibilities!
If you wanted me to dislike Valik, oh boy, you got it. Still, there’s the matter of his son. He could probably turn him around, but right now, it’s not like he’s around to do that.
We’ll see what happens next on Thursday! Can’t wait for the escape/rescue sequence, whenever that is! I’d honestly love her even more if she got out of this on her own, though this doesn’t really seem like that kind of situation.