Shinzo Kugiri's Story

Shinzo's eyes burst open as he woke up to the sight of his unlit cell's ceiling. As he sat up, his head pounding, he noticed that his arms were being firmly held behind his back by the tight sleeves of a straight jacket. Again. He let out an irritable sigh as he let himself fall onto his back again as, trying to scrape together his memories of what got him in the deep end this time. It didn't take long. He had been due to yet another mandatory test to see how much power he could generate. It was unlikely they got much data considering he blasted the equipment, the lighting fixtures and two security officers out cold before they could sedate him. If they were lucky, then they survived. If Shinzo was lucky, they didn't and he wouldn't be having a late night visit from a bunch of muscle bound idiots looking for payback. As he flipped himself on his stomach and began shifting his arms around inside, his stomach growled as he bitterly realized he had missed his lunch. 'The least they could do is chuck a piece of bread in every few hours,' he fumed in his head as he arced his arms inside the sleeves, praying to find what his hands sought. His fingers touched metal for the briefest moment and without a second though he unleashed every volt he had charged up, clenching his eyes shut as the room filled with a flashing light. The zipper in the back was blasted off along with half the jacket itself, smacking the back wall before sliding to the floor in a smoking mess. Shinzo sat up straight and slid the ruined remains of cloth off as he stretched his shoulders. "Thirteen times and they never learn," he muttered to himself as he reached for the door handle only to find himself locked in. Looking through the fiberglass window revealed an empty hallway. No doctors to keep an eye on him but no subjects to let him out. He closed his eyes and sighed as he pressed his forehead to the glass. "Guess I'm stuck in here until the next time they want to stick me full of needles," he mumbled as he drew back his right hand, clenched it into a fist and rammed it into the door, leaving it perfectly intact and him with a sore hand.

Ebony continued sulking down the halls, slowly reeling in her sudden emotional outburst as she nibbled on her cookie. As she wondered down the hall, keeping to the shadows of course, bare feet making no sound as scientists passed her, she held out her other arm, practicing on turning it visible, then back to invisible. It was good practice to try on one part of her body, while keeping the rest of herself once stationary consistency. Contrary to what the scientists thought, Ebony did think she could push her ability to another level somehow, and liked to practice when no one was watching.

Ebony turned the corner- and immediately stumbled back slightly as a bright light flashed from one of the rooms, burning away all of her shadows momentarily and leaving her exposed and dazed. As she blinked repeatedly, the hall was normal again and she was left standing in the shadow against the wall, invisible again. There was a small crash. Her tail was twitching in annoyance from the light, and flicked around her head, standing perfectly upright. She took a few breaths and calmed down, peering down the hall. there were three doors, the kind locked with keycards, where those who were being difficult were usually stored.

The dark haired girl was curious to say the least. She hopping onto the wall and made quick time to the first door, but when she peered in the room was empty. So, naturally, she scrambled across the ceiling and looking into the glass of the next door, immediately granted with the vision of a scrawny boy, probably older than her, with a shock of white hair that stood out in the dim cell. She lowered one arm- Hanging upside down as she was, her arm was coming down after all- and knocked on the glass, feeling risky, and giving a little wave.

She tilted her head and glanced down the hall for doctors, but saw none. She then looked down at the keycard slot and recognized it as the same lock they had used at her old lab. they were actually amazingly easy to break into. Ebony figured she could help the boy out, but wouldn't unless he seemed stable and asked for help. After all, it'd be just a tad bit awkward if he was a crazy psychopath she let loose in the lab.

Shinzo felt the silence of his empty cell as he he stayed leaning against the door frame, eyes closed. He began contemplating a few ways to get attention and get out when he heard a noise not an inch form his face. His eyes flew wide open and he felt the familiar twinge right next to his heart followed by the feeling of energy radiating off every cell of his body for the briefest moment. It was a knee jerk reaction he'd developed from so many years of paranoia, something he almost swore was just a natural reaction from his unnatural body. It was over in a split second, the energy on his skin settling back into his core. Only then did he realize what he was looking at.

His eyes were met with a pair of grey ones framed by dark black hair that would have been standing on point were the person not upside down. He could do nothing but blink back at the stranger for a moment. The stranger, a girl from the looks of it, waved at him which he returned with another weak wave, an expression of relief crossing his face. Even if the girl hadn't been climbing on the ceiling, she looked a few years younger than him. Most doctors and scientists in the facility he knew of were early twenties at the very least.

Shinzo leaned to the side and looked past the girl, making sure there was no one else in the hallway before he started talking to her. The 'extreme cases' as the pencil pushing hacks who ran this place called anyone dangerous were kept in cells that were fireproof, waterproof, shockproof and soundproof, even airtight with the tiniest of vents on the ceiling that ran into the hall to keep the occupant alive. Shinzo moved away from the door and to the back of the room, grabbing the edge of his cot that the doctors were unaware was unbolted and slid it into the center of the room before he jumped up on it and turned his head up towards the small vent on the ceiling. He cuffed his hands in front of his mouth and yelled, "Hello! Can you hear me?!" into the small holes. The sound went through the pipping and came out into the hall two feet away from the cell door at foot level. He ducked down and looked back to the door, praying that the girl could hear him or at the least was the listening type.

Ebony watched interested as the boy slid his bed around the room towards the center, then jumped up and shouted to the ceiling. Ebony raised an eyebrow, then promptly fell straight off the ceiling in shock as a voice called to her from the floor. Falling headfirst, she extended her hands then fell into a messy rushed back bend before lowering herself. She landed safely, if not a little jarringly, then noticed the vent in the wall a little ways away.

She laughed to herself. Of course, the cell the guy was in one of the extreme rooms, and they were soundproof. Duh. Before standing she crawled over to the vent.

"Yeah, I can hear you," She said into it in a slightly raised voice. "You scared me to death, yelling through this thing!"
She popped back up to the door window to smile reassuringly, letting him know she was going to stay to talk. Then she lay down on the floor, against the wall so she was unseen.
"Who are you? My names Ebony. Are you always in this cell?"

Ebony had never met someone who was constantly in the extreme rooms. She only had talked to those who had been stuck in them after their abilities were prodded to a level they couldn't control, or when she herself had been stuck in one when her invisibility had gone haywire, changing density and color of anything she touched.
So, her curiosity was truly peaked now, more so than it was before.
Her tail flicked and wavered in the shadows, and she quickly stilled it, lest someone see a floating tail as they walked by.

Ryder wasn't so keen on talking to people but if it meant getting out of this hell hole he would have to grit his teeth and get on with it. He knew the names of most of his prison cellmates but rarely spoke to any of them. He gave a quick salute to Yuji as he turned around the corner.
Cake! came a squeak from by his foot. It was Rat again.
"Sorry Rat, I do not have time to get you food right now. Besides you had lots of cake about an hour ago."
No! protested the rodent.
"Yes you did I saw you. Now how about you do something useful and locate me a couple of fellow experiments."
This way! said Rat as he scurried off down the hallway. Ryder had to jog to keep up and almost stepped on Rat who had suddenly stopped at a cell door. Ryder noticed a strange shape flickering in the shadows for the briefest moment. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not but it had looked like a tail.
"Is someone there?" he called softly into the shadows.

Ebony jumped as yet another voice came from around her. She turned and noticed a boy standing in the hall, looking at her, or at least close where she was planking on the ground.
She hissed a hardly audible "Be quiet for a minute," Into the vent, knowing the boy in the cell would hear from the way noise echoed in the pipes.

Ebony flipped onto her hands and walked out of the shadows in front of the new boy, standing back on her feet once she had reached him.
"Hello," She started, looking at him cautiously. "Can I help you?"

He wasn't too intimidating to look at, about as tall as Ebony with soft features leaning towards feminine. She smiled a little, though nervously, not sure exactly what he wanted.

*Double Post Sorry!**

"I do not think it is possible to escape this place without harming a few guards. But I promise that we will not let any harm come to our allies," he said confidently. "I must go, I have work to do. I will see you later Ebony."

Ebony gave a little smile and nodded a farewell as Ryder strode away. Well he's certainly confident.
Ebony didn't exactly mind hurting scientists and guards- so long as they weren't perminetly injured. She supposed she could use a tactic she had learned from a 'mutant' at her old lab, hitting pressure points and joints in certain ways to disable someone.
She sighed and grabbed her leg stretching it in a bow-and-arrow position. Stretching was something she often did when thinking or nervous. Then she turned and tapped on the window of the door, hoping the boy inside would still be willing to talk to her. She could probably let him know about the plan and such.

Ebony glanced down at the key card slot. It looked much more complicated than it actually was, with it's fancy numbered buttons, screen and card slot. She could easily get the door open.
She quickly knelt back to the vent.
"Hey, I can get you out real quick if you promise you wont hurt me..." She laughed a little and made sure to sound plenty playful so he would know she was kidding.

Shinzo couldn't help but give a deep sight of relief as the strange young girl responded to him through the vent after what felt like the longest of pauses. "Yeah, I can hear you. You scared me to death, yelling through that thing!" Shinzo let out a light hearted chuckle as he stood to keep balance on top of the old cot. "I didn't mean to startle you. I guess I might have yelled a bit too loud. Hehe." After a moment's pause, something in the corner of his eye caused him to turn him towards the door. He blinked dully at the only window in the room as he spotted the girl smile sweetly through the pane of glass. As she dodged out of view again, Shinzo couldn't help but think about how surprisingly sweet she was. Kindness was a rare feature down in the labs, even between fellow subjects. He couldn't help but feel an odd stirring in his chest for a moment before the voice came down from the ceiling again.
"Who are you? My names Ebony. Are you always in this cell?" the now named girl said through the vent.

Shinzo couldn't help but laugh again as the girl fired off questions towards him. "You're rather quick to get to the point, aren't you, Ebony? Alright. You can call me Shinzo. The idiots in lab coats tend to keep me in here most of the time. And I really don't blame them..." Realizing how threatening that sounded, he quickly included, "I got a bit of an anger issue. I've been here since they brought me in as a kid and I guess you can say I'm stir crazy. Not that I'm unstable or anything. I'm just, uh. Pissed?" As he waited for a response, he couldn't help but reached up and wipe a bead of sweat from his brow. As nice as this Ebony girl seemed, he'd been here too long to believe she might be safe just yet. She may not have been a doc but some people who were brought in were crazier than him and if she was out of her cell, she may have forced her way out to begin with.

After a few moments of silence, Shinzo had feared the worst. The girl wouldn't have been first to leave him alone in his cell. The extreme case ward wasn't the best place to find friends in this place. Shinzo knew this better than anyone. His heart leaped out of his chest as he heard a voice come over the vent but it took a mere half second for him to realize something was wrong. Ebony was indeed speaking but not only was it not towards the vent but another voice could be heard with her. A dozen thoughts went through his head and none of them were good. Did a doctor watch her? Did one of those other free roaming subjects find him and warned her of his potential danger? Or was she one of the few traitors among the others who helped the sick bastards here do their work?

The sudden sound of a voice directed towards him made Shinzo jump, nearly making him loose his balance. Thanks to his keen reflexes, he was able to easily grab onto the metal headrest of his bed though the strain left his arm sore. As he sat down on the bed, his brain started to process what had come out of the vent. The girl Ebony had said, "Hey, I can get you out real quick if you promise you wont hurt me..." with an obvious tone of playfulness to it. Shinzo knew that considering the position he was in, he couldn't blame her for being cautious. He jumped back on the caught and spoke quietly into the vent, "I promise you, on my life, that I will do no harm to you."

"I got a bit of an anger issue. I've been here since they brought me in as a kid and I guess you can say I'm stir crazy. Not that I'm unstable or anything. I'm just, uh. Pissed?"
I've dealt with worse, Ebony thought to herself, thinking to some of the 'patients' she'd encountered who'd been set on death and destruction and such.
Sinzo made a promise not to harm her, and her, that was good enough for her. If he did get angry or whatever towards her, she had no doubt she could evade him easily. Besides, she wasn't keen on holding conversation through a vent.

"Okiedokie! Gimme a minute or two."
Ebony cracked her knuckles then moved over the the coded opening system. She tweaked with the screw in the side with her nails until it was slightly lose and pried the top of the small box off just slightly, knowing moving to much would set off an alarm. She peered into the dark box, her night vision allowing her to see the wires and other electronics clearly. First she pulled a thick black wire and quickly shoved it into the battery sockets, making it seem like it was still connected to the panel to the alarm. Electronics were really too easy to trick.
Next she re-thread several wires into different areas. The little screen on the front box came back to life and Ebony put the cover back down, twisting the screw back in. Biting her lip, she pressed the green button, and to her relief the cell door buzzed and popped open slightly.
She grabbed it and flung it open completely, grinning at the white haired boy in a satisfactory way.
"Goooot it.' She sang taking a bow and flicking her tail. "I preform on everyday, don't miss the next show!"
She laughed a little then stepped back to lean against the opposite wall, waiting for Shinzo to rise off his bed. To occupy herself while he took in his sudden freedom, Ebony stuck one bare leg in and out of a shadow, watching as it vanished and reappeared just under her shorts. Though her powers might seem like they wouldn't hold much interest for the thousandth time using them, Ebony never ceased to be amazed by her own skills.
"What are your 'mutations' anyway?" Ebony asked Shinzo, raising her hands to make finger quotes around mutations. Hopefully he didn't think she was crazy, she was just satisfied with her electrical work, which had made her a bit hyper.

Just as Shinzo jumped down off his cot so that he could sit on it, the strange young girl said, "Okiedokie! Gimme a minute or two." He folded his hand in front of him as he kept his gaze steady on the door, praying that Ebony's word of being able to get him out were true. As the second ticked by, his patience and faith began waning as he began wondering how someone like this girl could even manage something of this scale. The door required a keycard only held by doctors with access to the extreme case branch and any use of force was futile with all the bells and whistles keeping it closed even if you ignored the thickness of the door itself. Shinzo was more than a bit surprised when the door slid open to show Ebony standing there. "Goooot it," she chimed as she did a little bow, revealing a pointed tail flicking behind her. He couldn't help but chuckle as she stated, "I preform on everyday, don't miss the next show!"

Shinzo stepped out of the cramped padded room, stretching his arms about his head and hearing the satisfying pop of his joints. The hallway felt like another world since he was never let out to roam like some other subjects and he had little time to appreciate the different sights between the trashing, the shocking and the anesthetic overloading his senses all at once. It was still all dull and washed over when it came to colors and the sterile smell was even worst outside but at least you could do more than pace from side to side. He turned to thank Ebony when she noticed that she was dipping her leg into a nearby shadow and watching it disappear from sight before she pulled it out and watched it reappear. He watched her do this a few times until he realized that she was only wearing very short shorts and he was staring at her legs.

Forehead slightly flushed, he looked away just before she turned to ask him, "What are your 'mutations' anyways?" Hoping his bangs kept his flushed features hidden, he turned towards her with a toothy grin and said, "You sure love your questions, Ebony. But I guess I do owe you so I'll cut some slack. Without going too in depth on the biology bit of it, think of me as a walking generator with no conduits. You may have noticed my 'skill' when you startled me earlier." He turned back the door to check out what damage Ebony might have done and he was surprised to see there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about the entrance to his personal hole in the wall besides the fact it was open. The door looked totally untouched and the keycard pad looked the same as it always did. Scrunching up his brow in a look of confusion, his gaze turned towards the dark haired girl again with a look of suspicion. "So how exactly did you manage to get me out, may I ask?"

"You sure love your questions, Ebony. But I guess I do owe you so I'll cut some slack."
Ebony bit her lip a little, ignoring the comment. She was slightly socially awkward, so what?
"Without going too in depth on the biology bit of it, think of me as a walking generator with no conduits.
"Talking, walking, tesla coil." Ebony named him jokingly.
She watched him turn an examine the door, then look back at her suspiciously. "So how exactly did you manage to get me out, may I ask?"

Ebony raised her hands in an innocent manner. "Wire tricks. Don't look at me like I'm some sort of scientist pet, I just know a few things from escaping my last lab. These locks are actually easier to break into than the normal cells. Stupid scientists think key cards make everything more secure." Ebony rolled her grey eyes. "They're idiots."
Then she began walking down the hallway, slow enough for Shinzo to decide if he wanted to follow or not. She wanted to find this Yuji guy Ryder had talked about. Then she realized she should probably update Shinzo. Ebony paused and hopped back a few steps, leaning in and lowering her voice.
"By the way, before, this guy names Ryder came by and told me he and some others were planning an escape plan. I want to hear what their leader, Yuji, has in mind as far as a plan goes. Wanna come?"