Chapter 6 – Aaron

Aurora was with him. She was with her Ron. Once again, he'd blindfolded her, but she didn't mind. It didn't matter that she couldn't see him. All that mattered was how good he felt. His fingers caressed her skin while his lips trailed kisses on her forehead, then slowly down to the crook of her neck. He nibbled on her earlobe, and Aurora fought to keep from moaning.

Ron chuckled. "You like that, huh?"

"Yes," she whispered, her mouth dry. "Y-you…" Her voice broke and she had to clear her throat. "You feel so good."

He chuckled again then resumed the kiss. She could feel his lips over hers. Her heartbeat quickened, heat pooled to her core, and she arched her back to get closer to him. He pulled away, teasing her, making her whimper."Please," she begged.

"Hmm?" His hand slid down her arms and continued to lower until they settled on her hips.

"Please don't go." Her pleading appeared to work because he inched closer to her, and she could feel his thumb drawing circles on her hip. With every movement, Aurora became painfully aware that he was hiking up her skirt at a torturously slow pace.

Ron’s lips overpowered hers, and then he began kissing his way down to her neck. She turned her head and exposed her throat, moaning when his mouth connected with the crook of her neck. His hand caressed her bare thigh. Did he enjoy torturing her? Repeatedly, he’d move his hand close to her secret spot and then pull away, driving her wild each time.

His mouth found her chest, and Aurora's heart skipped a beat. Even through the fabric, she could feel the warmth of his breath. Her nipples tightened under his touch, and her world seemed to spin, as if she were doing somersaults under water. He wrapped his arms around her and, with a firm grip, rolled her on top of him. The fabric beneath her told her enough: he’d taken her to a bedroom.

Aurora supported herself with her hands, pressing them against his chest. She straddled him, feeling a large bulge against her panties. Aurora wanted to tease him back—why should he get to have all the fun? Carefully, she grinded against him. Now it was his turn to moan as she fought off his attempts to grab her shoulders and regain control. After another moment, she relented. She let go then savored the feeling of his hands on her back. When his fingertips trailed her spine, she moaned in delight.

“You have a beautiful back,” he whispered.

“I do?”

“Yes. It’s like a canvas."

Aurora felt a stab in her chest at the familiar words. “What did you say?”

“I said it’s like a canvas.” Ron’s voice changed, becoming harsher and cold. “A canvas for me to create my art.”

Zachary. But why?

Suddenly the blindfold vanished, and she found herself back in the art exhibition. Young men and women watched in awe as Zachary butchered her for the sake of his business.

Why was this happening? Where was Ron?

“A perfect canvas,” said Zachary’s voice. “A perfect canvas for me to—”

Aurora’s eyes snapped open. She sucked air into her lungs, gasping for breath. It was dark; she couldn’t see. Only as she felt the blanket covering her did she remember: she was at Haw Tech, and she’d been put to sleep. She threw off the covers and tried to calm herself. Her palms became sweaty and her heartbeat increased. What had happened? The last thing she remembered was the troubled look on one of the scientist’s face. Then her world had gone dark.

A gut-wrenching ache filled her stomach as she returned to reality. Once again, Ron had slipped away. She took in her surroundings. She was in what appeared to be a recovery room. Apart from the bed she rested on, there was no other furniture except a locked emergency cabinet filled with first aid supplies. The lights were turned off, but she could still make out the padded white walls, white ceiling, and white floor. She turned her head slowly to discover that thick iron bars covered the small window behind her bed.

Am I in a rubber cell? Isn’t this where they put insane people?

Aurora couldn't believe her own eyes. They'd captured her inside a crazy-person prison. Was she dangerous? What exactly happened yesterday? Her mind filled with questions. None of which were answered. The silence in the room offered no explanation. She wiggled her arms and legs, thankful that at least she hadn’t been locked inside a straitjacket.

She sighed. It was no use to ponder about it now. She’d get no reply before the Haw Tech people came to fetch her. With that thought in mind, she attempted to get up. It proved to be somewhat of a task to sit up straight. With her legs over the edge, she stared at the closed door. Her thoughts returned to the experiments they’d been performing on her. They'd been so interested in her back. No. They'd been afraid of her back.

She reached behind herself and touched her skin. It didn't hurt. Aurora lowered her hands to her thighs. What would happen to her? Would they send her back to work for Zachary? Were they were displeased with her service? There were too many unanswered questions. She groaned.

A shiver ran down her spine, and she could feel something sting her left thigh. Her hand rubbed the spot, but it didn’t help. Actually, she couldn’t feel her hands at all. Looking down, she blinked twice to clear her vision.

This can’t be…

She raised her left hand slightly and studied it. A patch of ice covered her skin, beginning at her shoulders and traveling down her arms and all the way to her fingers. She studied her bizarre, icy skin a moment, and then, when the last bit of grogginess escaped her and she became fully aware of her present situation, she screamed as loudly as her lungs would permit.

“Is everything okay in there?” asked a voice.

Aurora continued to scream. What had they done to her? This was worse than scarification!

She heard a click from behind the door, and then the sound of grinding metal. Soon after, the door burst open and a team of scientists stormed inside. She stopped her screaming and watched them hurry towards her. She recognized one of them: Charlie Callan.

"What happened?" Charlie asked. "Are you hurt?"

Aurora couldn’t speak. Instead, she raised her hands; the frost glinted in the light coming from beyond the door.

"Ah..." Charlie fiddled with a pair of glasses, then placed them on the brink of her nose and stepped closer. "Can I touch it?"

The question was clearly a formality, because before Aurora could open her mouth to respond, Charlie was already placing her hands around Aurora’s wrists. The woman studied the patterns before turning around to her colleagues. "This is magnificent. I've never seen anything like—“

The woman stopped speaking and turned to Aurora with widened eyes. "Aurora..." Charlie began, letting out a slight gasp. ”Can you make it stop?"

Aurora frowned. What was she talking about? Then her eyes landed on the woman's arm. The layer of frost had spread from her arm and over to Charlie's. Instantly, Aurora jerked her arm back, causing the woman to fall over her.

“Ugh.” Charlie groaned. Aurora could see her grit her teeth and her own panic rose. The others scientists scrambled over the floor to aid their coworker. When they arrived, they remained still and did nothing.

“I don’t mean to sound impatient,” Charlie said, “but I’m in a great deal of pain and I’d really appreciate it if one of you morons did something to help me instead of just standing there.”

Another scientist, a younger man with a thick pair of glasses and smooth black hair, gave Charlie a blank look, which clearly angered her. “Don’t just stand there!” Charlie shouted. “Do something!”

The young scientist pointed to himself. “Me?”

“Yes you!”

“What … what do you want me to do?”

“Help me! You’re a scientist, so figure something out.”

“Figure something out? Seriously?” The young man pointed to Charlie’s arm. “Cut me some slack, ma’am. This is only my first day here, and no one trained me on what to do in the event you turn into a fucking icicle!”

Aurora was amazed how even through Charlie’s pain, the woman still managed an annoyed sigh. “Get something to melt the ice.”

“Like a hair dryer?”

Aurora couldn’t believe her eyes; the icy pattern was growing steadily. In a moment of sheer frustration, she placed her right hand around Charlie’s wrist. She closed her eyes and put all her strength behind her pull. It wasn’t until Charlie’s scream reached her ears that her eyes shot open.

The ice had melted, but in its place, deep orange flames licked against the poor woman’s skin. She released her grip on Charlie, who now had a large burn wound on her wrist. Aurora gasped. She stared, fascinated, horrified, and ashamed at the damage she had caused.

“I’m so sorry,” Aurora whispered. “I didn’t mean to … I just wanted to help.”

Charlie said nothing. She merely nodded her head, her breathing shallow. Another scientist stepped forward to take charge of the situation. “Get Dr. Callan some help immediately,” he said. “Charlie needs treatment for that wound. Take her down to Wing D and have her patched up.” Then he turned to Aurora. “And as for you, please try to calm down and settle your emotions.”

Emotions? Aurora was confused. Her mind was a mess. She’d wounded Charlie—the one scientist who had been somewhat nice to her. On top of that, her arms were doing crazy things, and she feared what this would mean to her contract.

Nevertheless, she tried. Breathing slowly, she calmed her mind as if she’d been doing her routine. Aurora’s arms returned to normal a few minutes later, and the male scientist stepped closer.

“My name is Aaron Reed. Do you have any explanation to what just happened?” he asked.

Aurora shook her head. “No.”

“I see. Please follow me,” he said and turned around.

“Wait, please,” Aurora said. “Can you please tell me what happened? I’m confused, and I don’t understand what’s going on anymore.”

“That,” Aaron said, “is what we’re here to find out. Gentlemen,” he said, addressing the remaining doctors in the room, “please see to it that Dr. Callan is taken care of. I’ll handle things on my own from here.” He turned his attention back to Aurora. “Can you walk?”

“I think so.”

Aurora’s legs were shaky, yet she still managed to stand upright and follow the man out of the room. As she passed the group of scientists, they backed away from her as if she were some sort of dangerous, predatory animal. Oddly, this did not upset her. She was so used to being the one to fear others that it was a bizarrely reassuring experience to be the one others feared.

Aaron led her out into the hall. There were no windows, and the only light to be seen came from the florescent bulbs above. Doors on each side enclosed cells just like the one she’d just been in, and all had bars in front of the window on top. Aurora glanced at the scientist; he was taller than her, and his dark hair was kept short. She didn’t think he looked like the other scientists. It wasn’t that he lacked the typical geeky look associated with the other doctors: lab coat, pen in jacket, and a rigid, upright, down-to-business posture. Rather, it was his assertive grin and his broad build that made him look more like an athlete in a doctor’s uniform than a true-to-form lab rat.

At the end of the hall, they came to a steel door with no handle. On the side of the wall, Aaron entered a few numbers into a keyboard, and then a click sounded in front of them. The door opened on its own, revealing a small room containing nothing but a steel table and matching chairs.

“Is everything alright?” she asked.

He gestured for her to take a seat, then turned to get a little book and a pen. “Don’t worry. We’re just going to talk.”

He sat down opposite from her and flicked through the small notebook. Aurora spotted lines of messy handwriting scrambled over the paper. It was too blurred for her to make anything out. Aaron furrowed his brow before closing the book, folding his hands and meeting her eyes. “Aurora…” he paused and sent a fleeting glance to his book. “I need to know… Do you know of Immortalia lore?”

She shook her head. Something rattled in the back of her mind, but she ignored it.

“I’m in charge of the project which tries to unite humans and Immortalias. We’ve been trying to find out what the ancient Immortalia scripts are telling us. Unfortunately, the language has been long-forgotten, and the Immortalias we’ve been in contact with either lack the ability to translate it, or they refuse to.” He leaned back. “I think you’re special, Aurora. And I think you might be what we’ve been looking for.”

Aurora could feel the heat flare to her cheeks. Was he complimenting her?

“I want you to be on my team,” he continued. “It’s still in the same department as your contract, but rather than have a base here at Haw Tech, you’d go with me to expeditions.”

“I’ll do whatever you wish me to,” Aurora said. “Although … if I may have one request?”

“And that would be?” He cocked an eyebrow.

“Can I know what happened with my back?” She swallowed. “Back in the laboratory?”

He nodded. “Of course. We were actually meant to tell you earlier, but then…” He cleared his throat. “Dr. Callan questioned you about your contract, along with performing the initial tests, yes?”

“Yes.”

“She discovered that during your”—he took out his book and flipped through it—“routine,” he continued, “your body went into something of a … not coma, but more of a hiatus, as odd as that may sound. This would normally not make for any complications, except for the fact that the Nubots collect data from your DNA, and are instructed to stop in the event of death.

“Therefore, we had to get them replaced. During the procedure, we had a power out—which we’re currently looking into finding the cause off—and the removal of the nubots was interrupted, so they’re still inside of you. In addition to these Nubots, you’ve also got a bunch of nanobots running through your spine. These nanobots—different from Nubots, which mainly work with DNA—are designed to procreate cells. We call this molecular manufacturing. “

Aurora nodded on and listened to him speak. She was wrong about him: he was indeed a geek on the inside, even if he masked it behind a pair of coffee-colored eyes, which seemed to glow as he rambled about technology. Despite the severity of the situation, Aurora found herself fawning over him, smiling as she pretended to understand what he was saying.

“However,” he began, “since your DNA is currently mixed with the Nubots, they are now copying the cells that change your DNA completely.” He shifted around, his eyes gleaming with excitement. “I was present when it happened, and while I can’t explain it to you in exact detail, the best I can do is say that it seems as though your skin was fighting itself. Your right side was burning away all your cell structure, fighting with your own healing abilities. While your left side froze the burn and slowed it down enough for your body to heal.”

“So I had no skin?”

“Little ice particles served as the only protection of your flesh, yes.” He smiled. “It was a spectacular sight.”

Aurora shifted uncomfortably. What was up with these people? Glee appeared in them in horrible situations. With Charlie, it had been the pain, and with Aaron it was a … she didn’t even know what to call it. Her head pounded. Yet despite how awful she knew she should have felt, she couldn’t help but shiver under the man’s magnanimous presence. She should have been outraged, but she felt only more entranced.

“And it stopped when you put me out?”

“During that time, your body healed itself. Charlie noted that you have a remarkable ability for that.”

“Well, to be fair, I’ve had lots of practice,” Aurora said, surprising herself with her own dark humor. “So…” Her tongue slipped out and dampened her lips. “What’s the next plan?”

“First, we need you to learn how to control your abilities. You’ll be under surveillance until we’re certain you have the power over them. After that...” He grinned. “We’re going on a little trip.”

“A trip?” She frowned.

“Don’t worry about that now.” He pushed his chair back. “Let me escort you back to your room. We’ll have to start as soon as possible with the training.”

Aurora rose from her chair and followed him without a word.

A/N: Please vote.