Snippet #2684740

Others were speaking, that much was known.

What about? She couldn't tell. Their conversations seemed to jump around from topic to topic. The voices were coming in through the walls, hampered only to the extent where the pain wasn't making her feel each individual tooth in her mouth ache. Given she could see sound the room around looked a bit like a bubble, what with the visual distortions she knew as sound coming through them. The outside of her cell looked like a river, guards walking through the chaotic flow of sound as though it weren't even there. To them it seemingly wasn't.


A tray had come through a slot in the door. Her slot was different from the others. It was designed to function like an airlock but instead of air it keeps sound out by insuring there was always a door between her and the outside. The tray had some form of greyish goo on it. Was it food? It did not look like food. Pain was not very good at whetting an appetite. What hunger she might of had was not anywhere in her concerns. She left the tray to sit, not taking a single bite of whatever it was.

Footsteps approached the door. Guards, at least four of them were standing directly in front of her door. When she looked up she could confirm that fact though it wasn't really necessary. Four hearts beating were enough evidence for her.


A key slid into the lock of her door. Immediately her heart sank as she realized what they were going to do. They were taking her out of her cell. This space which offered such respite from the wages of noise that was the world beyond, they were going to take it from her. Though imperfect it was still a better place than any she had known since her mind opened. She would of objected but any sound she could of made would of only caused her greater suffering. As it was the door opened and in spilt the sound, overwhelming her as it flooded her cell.

There was no use crying, no help in screaming. She had already worn her cords out just on the way in. All she could do is shiver with pain as the men lifted her up to her feet by her arms. Her teeth felt as though they would crack under the intensity with which she held them clenched.


Voices louder than jet engines all around, footsteps like bombshells going off and on all sides of her the sounds of flesh sloshing about as though she were in the belly of some unfathomably large beast. She was practically carried through the halls on her way past the other subject's cells just as many more guards were filling into the hall in regards to the telekinetic mutant's display.

Down the hall past numerous turns she was taken through the facility. Eventually she was brought before a large metal door. This was a room prepared especially for her by Dr. Ritter, the one who'd taken her as his project. This wasn't unusual as different mutations often called for different fields of scientific expertise.


They brought her into the chamber and sat her down on a special chair. This room had been rebuilt into an anechoic chamber. The surface they used to walk in on was a metallic grid designed to provide a stable surface to stand on while not providing too much material for sound to reflect off of. The triangular foam wedges which lined the walls, floor and roof of the chamber were designed to absorb as much sound as possible. When sealed the room would be quieter than even her cell, so quiet in fact it would be unbearable for most living beings.

They strapped her arms, legs and neck down so she was unable to move in what looked to be some strange permutation of a dentist's chair. Above the chair attached to the ceiling by a mechanical limb all hooked up with wires was a strange sort of helmet. It sort of looked like a slick, black baseball helmet however with the numerous devices all built into it's structure the differences far outnumbered it's similarities. This helmet was designed to monitor brain signals via electromagnetic scanners. Besides the chair were two large speakers mounted on stands next to the head of the chair. They were both lined up directly with Olivia's ears. On the corner of the grid platform was a desk complete with a chair and computer set up.


Once secure the guards left the room, sealing it behind them. The door was locked not with one key but with two, one held by a guard and one held by Dr. Ritter himself. This setup was specifically requested by the fine doctor himself. With two keys the only way for the door to be opened was for both Ritter and a guard to use their keys. The door could be opened with one key inside and one key outside or with two keys either inside or outside but under no circumstances would the door open to only one key. There was an intercom on the reinforced walls of the chamber so that Dr. Ritter could speak directly to security if needed. Both the door and the walls of the testing chamber were reinforced to withstand any multitude of the more formidable mutant powers that could manifest. From fire to electricity and especially raw physical force, little would be able to disrupt this pocket of the facility. It was practically a bunker in it's own right.

Olivia did not care about the straps nor the strange instruments nor even the absurd amount of security set for this room. To her the very moment the door shut it was close to nirvana. Almost perfect, very nearly. There was still some sound however. The sounds outside like distant mountains on the horizon were still there however they held little presence in the immediate space. At this instant the loudest thing around was the sound of her own heart beating, well, at least until the doctor started to speak.


"Hello Olivia. You might remember me, you might not. I am Doctor Joseph Ritter, a very famous scientist. I help a lot of people all over the world and now I will help you. Isn't that just spectacular?"

The doctor had the face of a kindly old man, mildly reminiscent of Colonel Sanders. The rough similarity wasn't lost on Olivia though her mind wasn't exactly focused on drawing similarities with famous faces. The voice was causing her waves of agony with each syllable he uttered. With a pained expression she opened her mouth to answer back but all that came of it was a squashed croak. The moment she tried to utter any form of sound produced far more pain than even he caused her thus far as the sound of her own voice had a closer reach to her brain. The best she could manage in this state was a pathetic groan.

Despite her suffering he simple smiled wider, bemused by her attempt at communication.


"You do not need to answer me, I already know the answer. Now please relax as I prepare to examine you."

With that said Dr. Ritter went around the chair and placed the helm upon Olivia's head. She was unable to do anything other than simply stare ahead as the doctor went back around his table and sat before his computer. Hitting a number of keys Dr. Ritter activated the scanner.

"Activating control group scan recordings."


With that said Olivia could hear the harsh buzzing of electricity in the helmet fastened snugly to her head. There was no other noise save for that and the natural bodily functions of them both as the machine took photos of the magnetic signals in her brain. On the screen the program painted a bioelectric model of her brain. This process continued for a short while. Afterwards she was left to sit there while the doctor recorded the state of her brain. He also took the time to analyse differences between her brain and a regular brain model. Already he was seeing some interesting results. The measures he had taken paid off quite well as he was already ahead of most of his colleagues within the facility in terms of understanding their assigned subject.

While taking blood and running DNA analysis had it's uses it was already plain to see that each mutant was quite different from each other. He knew that simply taking blood while providing a piece of the puzzle was a rather inaccurate method as it wasn't taking into account the effects of the mutation itself. He figured if he could locate the section of the brain that has developed as a result of the genetic alteration he could take a sample of DNA which would possess a very clear root in the transformation. While others were looking for what made each mutant the same he was looking for what made each mutant different.


With a content sigh as he finished the last data entry he leaned back in his chair and looked over to Olivia.

"Time to measure the variables."