Ember followed the guards deep into the facility. The coppery odour of blood mingled with the fear in the air as they drew closer to their destination. She hated this place. It wasn't so much the screams, the torture or death's presence. By now Ember had long since grown indifferent to that. It was the overwhelming presence of her memories. Most of the time she managed to keep them far from her consciousness, locking them deep within. But here it was as though only a thin sheet of glass kept them in her subconscious.
Sure she was always aware of them, despite popular psychology repression was not a logical occurrence. But they weren't nearly as real as they were here. Nonetheless with great skill and practice Ember managed to keep them in control, though their forbidding presence remained a heavy burden.
Finally the trio stopped outside one of the doors. The guard outside was watching a monitor of the interior. There was a young woman lying face-down on the examination table. The usual results of unanswered questions were stamped in her back in the form of lacerations, burns and soft-tissue bruising. As Ember watched another glowing metal bar was applied just below the woman's neck resulting in a hoarse scream.
One of her guards opened the door and the three filed in. The older man started to unlock Ember's metal mask when the young guard let out a gasp.
"It's alright" The first chuckled. "That man outside will watch us. If she decides to take one of us out, they'll simply force her to kill another mutant to bring us back."
And then the barbaric thing was off, and for a moment Ember sighed in pleasure at the relief of being able to move her jaw.
"…We're running out of patience with you." Ember was brought back to reality by the scientists snarled words. "Tell us where you sent your daughter, or we'll let the wraith loose."
She couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. If they really let her loose none of them would ever wake up again. The woman on the table let out a sob but otherwise remained silent. Ember kept her face carefully neutral and leaned against the wall, arms folded against her chest.
The scientist unchained the woman from the table before dragging her across to a small pool of water. Her moans of pain were cut short as her head was plunged in. After a few weak struggles she finally was still and her dragged out. A small child was brought in, no more than five. He started to sob when he saw all the blood.
Ember was shoved forward by the guard causing her eyes to flame to red. The kid let out a squeal of terror. Ignoring it, she knelt in front of him, her hands on his shoulders, keeping him in place. His quick short breaths begged her to take them, and take them she did. She let his little body fall to the floor, before crossing over to the woman. Without a hint of emotion she blew gently on the woman's face and watched while she coughed the water out of her lungs.
"And now you will answer the question. Either that or we drown you again and kill another kid to bring you back until you do." The scientist gestured to the dead boy. "How many kids will you kill attempting to prevent us finding your daughter?"
The fight was over, Ember knew it. It was one thing to remain silent and endure your own pain, quite another to destroy someone else's life. And no one liked seeing dead kids. Between sobs the woman told them what she knew. They always did in the end. Before she knew it, Embers metal mask was replaced and she was being led back outside.
The younger one looked at her with a new sense of awe.
"She just killed that kid, no question?"
"Well in my opinion mutants don't have true feelings, and she certainly doesn't have any emotion."
Ember's irises boiled to a deep crimson, glaring at him with pure hatred.
"That is aside from anger." He laughed. "Oh and fear. Though you don't like to show it much, your eyes are not very good at hiding it, eh?"
If it had done her any good she would have torn his throat out at that point, but she simply turned away until the guards lost interest and started moving off.
She was surprised to find that she was taken into a large white room. Normally she was just taken straight back into her cell. There was already a young girl in here, though she didn't seem entirely 'there'. Probably one of the drugged up ones Ember decided, quickly averting her eyes, once again trying to avoid any communication with anyone else.
The two guards remained close, probably more for her own protection than anything else. She'd had many attempts on her life by angry mutants. This coming to mind, she glanced around uneasily wondering what exactly the facility owners had in stall for her.