Beautiful Monster

Punishment

Reyna traveled to the village. A place known as Balty. There was a radiation storm that she had to travel through. She initially felt fear when she saw it, knowing the storms are the source of a lot of death on this land, but as she traveled through it, she realized it did nothing to her. She seemed immune to the radiation. I wonder if the scientist knew that…

When she arrived at the village a day and a half after she left. She did a little bit of checking it out. There were no people there, it was completely abandoned. She looked through a few of the shops. She found some things that were still good, like clothing, blankets, bottles of water and some non-perishable food. She knew the scientist wouldn’t permit her to keep anything, so she hid everything she found in one of the houses. Then she went to the house the scientist had told her to go to and found 3 individuals. There was a man, a woman, and a child. The sight of the child hurt Reyna’s heart. She could almost feel as though she had a memory trying to break free from the confines of her addled mind, but she just couldn’t remember what exactly it was. She fell to her knees and sobbed, frustrated, wanting to remember anything about who she was before the scientist, before her death. When she was able to get a hold of herself again, she packed the bodies into the body bags and put them on the cart. I should get back. I don’t know what the scientist would do if I were to be late.

The trip back to the lab was difficult. She encountered 2 radiation storms. It took more time because she was hauling the bodies with her. She also realized just how much time she wasted checking out the town before doing her job. I should have just gotten the bodies and made my journey back. I wasted so much time. It ended up taking her a total of four days to get back to the lab. The last day was hell. She realized what the scientist meant by punishment. Every hour, she would receive a horrible shock throughout her body from the pain device he had implanted. It felt like getting struck by lightning. Every. Hour. It had slowed her progress even more.

When she arrived back at the lab, the scientist was waiting for her. As soon as she crossed the threshold, she no longer felt pain, realizing she had been experiencing a small constant stream of pain the entire time she had been gone. The relief was comforting, and made her feel like perhaps, this is what it felt like for someone to come home.

“It’s about time you got back, Reyna. I was worried.” Mordecai was clearly angry with her. His entire body looked ready to strike out. “Take the bodies to the lab in the basement, then meet me in my office. We need to have a discussion about your performance.”

Reyna’s body tensed up, worry overwhelming her mind. She just nodded at him and did as she was told. When she arrived at his office, she knocked on the door. “Come in,” came Mordecai’s voice. Reyna entered the room, and sitting in one of the chairs, was #92. Her eyes widened and she started to back towards the door to leave, but then she heard an audible click as the locks on the room engaged.

#92 stalked towards Reyna. When she got in front of her, he loomed over her. “Hello… Reyna,” he said with a menacing glint in his eyes.

Mordecai stood from behind his desk and looked up at Reyna. “#92 will be part of your punishment today. Go to the table and lay back.” That’s when Reyna noticed the examination table in the corner. She swallowed her fear, walked around #92 and laid down on the table. As soon as she laid down, #92 was there, strapping her wrists and ankles to the table. He even took the collar and clipped it to the table so she couldn’t raise her head. The entire time, #92 was silent. When he was done, he took a step back so that Mordecai could be next to the table. Then #92 brought over a table that had the tools. There were things that cut, things that pinched, things that burned. Reyna felt the pain, she felt the scientist’s hands doing something to her internal organs. She couldn’t see what was happening, but she felt every moment. The entire time, he asked her questions.

“How many radiation storms did you encounter?”

“3”

“How many survivors were in the village?”

“None”

“So you explored the area?”

“Yes”

“That was not part of the job.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

Then Mordecai and #92 moved towards Reyna’s head. #92 held the sides of her head so that she couldn’t move. He was incredibly strong, even stronger than Reyna. She could do nothing against his power. He looked her in the eyes the entire time as Mordecai opened up Reyna’s head and attached probes into her brain. Then the scientist went to a computer where he started pressing some buttons. Then, overwhelming pain. Her entire life, her entire world, was horrible, overwhelming, insurmountable pain. The only thing she could see was #92’s face above her, his eyes looking oddly soft, as if he felt sympathy for what was happening to her, as if he felt… guilt? Then she felt his thumbs begin to stroke where he held her. The small movement was oddly comforting through the pain. It gave her something to hold onto. Something to focus on that wasn’t the pain tearing through her mind. Eventually the pain became too much, and she passed out.

Reyna awoke later in her room. Her head pounding. When she went to touch where it hurt, she realized she couldn’t move her arms because they were shackled to the bed.

“Didn’t want you waking up and tearing out the stitches. The dear scientist worked oh, so hard on them, you see.” #92’s voice came from the corner of the room. Reyna turned to see him sitting in a chair, watching her. He had a book in his hands, but she couldn’t see what book it was. “Do you need anything?”

“No… I- Why?”

“Why did the scientist do that to you?” 92 asked, Reyna nodded. “Because, he is a sadistic control freak and felt like you slighted him by taking too long on your mission.” 92 looks to the side. “What was your mission?”

“He didn’t tell you?” 92 shook his head. “I was sent to Balty to obtain 3 bodies.”

The shock on 92’s face wasn’t something that could be faked. “He sent you away from the lab?” Reyna nodded. “That’s… amazing. Why did you return?!” 92 seemed to be angry that she came back. Why does he hate me so much?!

“I didn’t have a choice. I have a device that he implanted in me. It causes me pain when I disobey. He activated it every hour past the time he thought I should have been back.”

92 nodded. “I too have one of those. I would endure it if I could be free of this place though.”

“Really?”

92 nods. “If you ever get another chance-” his words are cut off by his falling to his knees in pain. Then the scientist comes in.

Mordecai looks at 92 with a sneer. “Pathetic. This is why I need someone as loyal as Reyna. I believe you need more work, Experiment #92. Return to the lab and await my return.”

92 stands, the pain seeming to have been stopped. He gives Reyna one last look before he walks out of her room.

“Now, pet, how are you feeling?” Mordecai says. He puts a hand on Reyna’s arm and moves his thumbs in a soothing motion, similar to what 92 did for her during the session, but it didn’t provide her any comfort.

“My head hurts. What… what did you do to me?”

“Oh, I looked at that beautiful brain of yours. I wanted to see how it responded to certain stimuli. I also wanted to ensure there was no tissue damage from the radiation storms. I’m happy to report that you are absolutely fine. No damage, whatsoever. Isn’t that fascinating? To think, your tissue is so resilient. Even when faced with the pain, you were able to endure. Did you know that that much pain is enough to tear apart the minds of a normal individual? Can you imagine the resilience if I was able to make everyone like you?”

Reyna saw the madness on the scientist’s face, she knew she had to fake it or get an even worse punishment. So she smiled. “That would make you the greatest scientist there ever was. Certainly, only someone as amazing as you would be able to create something like that.”

The scientist pet Reyna’s hair, not being careful of the stitches on her head. It hurt, but Reyna wasn’t about to say anything. Then he grabbed her hair, she could feel the stitches straining as he yanked her head backwards so she had to look up at his face. “Never disobey me again, understand dear?”

Reyna groans in pain, but manages to get out the words, “yes sir.” Then, she’s shocked when Mordecai kisses her. She doesn’t know what to do other than accept the intrusion. She fears what he would do if she were to deny his advances. His hand softens in her hair and glides to the back of her head to pull her head towards his. His tongue pushes past her lips and it takes all her self control not to shudder. Then his hand roams down her body, feeling the curve of her waist, her butt, then moves back up to fondle her breasts. Mordecai groans then finally breaks the kiss. “I made you perfectly, you know? It took so many different parts, but you are absolute perfection.”

Reyna isn’t sure how to feel about his words. They should be flattering, right? It means he’s pleased with her body, how she turned out. He has said many times that she is his beautiful monster, his pet, his shining success… but why does this feel like a violation? For some reason, Reyna wishes 92 was still in the room. For some reason, she feels like he would save her from the scientist’s touches and kisses.

“We will continue to explore this later. After dinner perhaps. For now, I have to go deal with that insufferable #92. You rest, regain your strength. Someone will come to get you for dinner.” Then he releases her from the shackles, presses his lips to hers one last time and leaves the room.

Once he leaves, Reyna sits up, presses her back to the wall, tucks her knees up, curling into herself and cries.