Gym/Training Room
Nikolai had enjoyed his past few weeks inside, as much as he could have at least. He was enjoying the three square meals a day, the gym, the hot water and clean clothes. The longer he spent in the facility the more he realized he enjoyed these amenities. He often thought back to where he'd been before, living in that run down apartment building with other runaways and orphans. So little food, cold water, no electricity. He recalled spending many nights shivering, even though he'd wrapped himself in every piece of cloth he could find. He brought himself back to what he was doing, looking at himself in the mirror. He was on the treadmill, watching himself. Correcting his running form ever so slightly. Making sure he was pumping his legs straight and giving himself as much force as possible. He noticed that he'd put on weight since he'd been here, nothing noticeable but he was looking healthier. More muscle had begun to show in his legs since he'd been working out. He looked at his face, clean shaven, his hair pulled into a bun, a trying scowl resting on his face with sweat falling down the side of his face. The gray tank top he wore was dirty with sweat, his gym shorts werent noticeably dirty due to the black color but they certainly smelled it. He looked at his tattoos, as well as he could while he was running. He remembered what he had to do to get them, how he got the cash. He grunted as he slammed a heavy hand on the stop button on the treadmill and slowed his pace as the machine decreased speed before finally stopping altogether. He hopped off and felt the numbness in his legs, he hated this feeling but fought it and moved quickly over to the modern bench press machine.
The facility had all the best equipment, the machine held the bar on a wire so that it didnt fall too fast. Which also prevented his arms from letting the weight bring it down too much. He had to control the fall. He picked up a 45lbs weight and slid it on the side of the bar, then repeated this on the opposite side. He plopped down on the bench and lowered himself under the bar. He pushed up to lift it off of its hooks then re-positioned his hands and let the bar fall slowly. When his arms hit a 90 degree angle he forced the bar back up with an exhale. He let the bar fall slowly, taking in a breath and when his arms bent he forced it up again. Again. Breathe. Again. Breathe. Again. Breathe. As he pushed up his final set the announcement came on. Cheery voice of that woman that was keeping them all here. Telling him to report to the plump woman for more tests and training. He grumbled and rotated the bar back onto it's hooks. He leaned up and set his hands on his knees. He wiped the sweat from his face with his shirt and stood. Walking down the hallway he stretched his arms and focused on the end of the hallway. He stopped then gathered to begin running, he felt the otherworldly feeling that Dr.Thompkins had told him to focus on. He forced his mind to think only of the spot at the end of the hall and then in less than a second he was there. He smiled and looked around, making sure no one had seen his expression of joy. He rolled his shoulders and entered the Doctor's room. She stood at the ready with her clipboard and greeted him with the annoyingly wide smile she always had. She sat him down in the chair and took his blood pressure, temperature, drew blood and examined it.
"Nikolai, I need you to tell me exactly what you did before you came here!" She said not looking up from her microscope.
"Why?" Nikolai asked as he sat up in the chair. She looked up from her microscope and pushed her chair over to him. She took one of his hands in hers and looked up at him.
"You're red blood cells, their doing something different right now. I dont know what it is but they appear to be in a constant state of uncertainty. They are moving incredibly fast, all the cells I can see in the microscope are. It's like they're moving between one another too. Nikolai, I believe this is a serious breakthrough. So what did you do before you came here?"
"I worked out, ran and bench press. Right before I came in I did what you were teaching me last week. Focus on the weird and imagined where I wanted to be. I went poof to the end of the hall."
Dr. Thompkins squeezed his hands and rolled her chair back to the microscope. She looked surprised and grabbed her notepad and began writing something down in quickly scrawled English. Nikolai stood and looked over her shoulder at the pad but could hardly speak English let alone read chicken scratch. She continued writing and then played with a nob on the microscope, and wrote more.
"They appear to be slowing down Nikolai. Reforming normal barriers..." She trailed off and watched as the cells resumed normal movement and formed their barriers, "I cant believe I didnt think of it before. To test your blood right after you teleport. This is a serious breakthrough. If I can get you to keep teleporting I can study your blood immediately after, if your cells are capable of moving through one another and at such speed I believe you could control it easier with some kind of blood thinner."
"So you think I get drunk I control this?" Nikolai asked with a wide smile.
"I did not say that Mr.Luzchezke." Dr. Thompkins quickly added, "Not only are you underage but that would adversary to the diet I have you on. I do think however some medical bloodthinners like warfarin or heparin may be useful. I'll speak with my supervisor to see their thoughts on the matter."
"Your supervisor?" Nikolai asked with great curiosity, "Who is he?"
"That's none of your concern Mr.Luzchezke..." She replied, "But I do think it's time we moved onto your physical training."
With that she stood and motioned for him to follow her, she walked out of her room and into the hallway. He followed grumpily and she took him to a room that looked like something out of the karate kid. Many arms on many moving machines. At the end of the room was a thin wall. Behind it a button.
"Nikolai, when I activate this room these machines will begin moving these arms. They will move in order to stop you, in order to succeed you have to get to the end of the room and hit the button behind that wall. It will stop the arms and you'll have won. There are 10 levels. I'm going to start you on 1."
"ТРОЙКА," Nikolai said. He was excited, something he could work at here. More than just working out and eating and getting blood tests done. The sessions with the other kids werent effective. No one could spur his power.
"Nikolai you wont be able to succeed at level 3."
"Just turn it on." Nikolai said defiantly.
"Fine..." Becky turned on the machine using a remote she held in her hand. The arms whirred to life and began spinning slowly. Nikolai smirked, they were moving in patterns and hardly seemed to be something he couldnt get through. He bent his knees and watched the pattern for a moment. He spotted several openings then watched as they repeated. He smiled and bolted. As he tucked under one of the arms and found the gap he felt a blow land in his stomach. He went to look down but felt a blow land on the side of his head. He was knocked off balance and growled before he felt another blow land in the back of his leg. He crumpled to the ground and tried to force himself up but felt another blow land on his back, forcing him to stay down. He heard the machines winding down and let out a sigh.
"I told you Nikolai, you need to start slower." Dr.Thompkins said as she walked over to him, "You're going to get bruises from this. Let them be a lesson."
"Fuck you..." Nikolai said as he stood and walked quickly over to her. He snatched the remote from her hand and turned the dial higher before pushing the button to turn the machine on again. This time he didnt wait for a pattern to form. He charged in with his arms near his head and the remote in his hand. He managed to push past one of the sets of arms. The next was not so easily passed. It swung into his thigh and caused him to limp. This limp was all that it took to throw him off. He felt a pointed blow land in his stomach, another crossed his mouth and he felt himself grow dizzy. Another landed on his arm, the remote falling from his hand. He staggered back to try and pick it up but felt another blow on his back. It hit again and he fell to the floor on his stomach. Another landed on the back of his head as he tried to stand, knocking his hair out of it's bun. He felt blood in his mouth. He heard a loud warning sound, like an alarm. The arms stopped instantly and Nikolai growled as he tried to stand. He felt out of breath, and his body was battered to the point of pain.
"Mr.Luzchezke!" Dr. Thompkins said angrily as she pushed past several arms and knelt next to him, "You will not disobey me again and you will certainly never use that kind of language directed at me."
"I dont..." Nikolai began but was silenced as she grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head up.
"You dont care, I know. But I do. You're possibly the most useful person here. Instantaneous travel. You could, in theory at least, go wherever you want to go whenever you want. I want to help you. But if you dont listen you will not grow. You will remain without control of your powers and then you will be useless do you want that."
"Let go of me," Nikolai said raising a hand to remove hers.
"Not until you agree to work with me."
Nikolai looked at her with malice and expected her eyes to reflect it. But instead they showed concern. Something he had seen little of his entire life. He looked at her and the anger faded. She saw the look in his eyes and let a small smile cross her face. He shook his head free of her grasp and made an effort to stand. He could feel the area on the side of his head begin to swell. In his mouth he felt all the blood mixing with his saliva, he spit it out and wiped his mouth. His back hurt more than anything and he put a hand to it as he stood. She helped him and he thought to slap her hand away but accepted it. He stood and flexed his leg, it hurt but he would manage.
"You're done for today. I want you to go rest." She said calmly and escorted him out of the room, "The next time you do this I want you to use your ability to get through it. Use your physicality and your power, if you can get the two to merge seamlessly then it'll show that you're getting stronger. But if you just act like a fool you'll keep hurting yourself."
As she spoke she escorted him down the hall to his room. He grumbled as the door slid open and he made his way to his bed.
"If you feel up to it you should shower," She began, "I'll make sure you're not disturbed. If you're up to it later I would like to talk to you about some therapy, for your anger and such."
Nikolai didnt say anything as he sat up from his bed and went into the bathroom. He shut the door and turned on the shower. Becky Thompkins sighed and put a hand to her head before leaving the room. Nikolai listened as his room door shut, he smiled and looked in the mirror. He had a bruise forming the right side of his jaw, and one near his temple on his left. He lifted his shirt and saw a solid bruise forming across his stomach. He couldnt help but smile, he hadnt been hurt in some time. It was nice to feel the familiar pain. It was like a fight but it wasnt, he'd just gotten beaten by mechanical arms. He looked at his face, trying to figure out why he was smiling. It was bizarre but he was happy to have something he could fight, something he could try to beat. He then realized the bruises would be something noticeable to the other captives, they'd probably wonder where he got them. He was looking forward to the looks, he always enjoyed being the center of attention.
He quickly undressed and got into the shower, trying to stretch as much as possible in the warm water. He tilted his head up towards the shower head and let the water go into his mouth to wash out whatever blood there was in his mouth. He reached a finger into his mouth and probed around and then felt the pain that had caused the bleeding. He felt a tooth move loosely as he pushed it around.
"Cyka Blyat" He exclaimed as he grabbed a hold of the tooth between his index finger and thumb. He tilted his head down and made sure he had a grip on it. He quickly threw his head back and yanked his hand out of his mouth. The tooth came loose and he let out a shaky breath. He looked at it and massaged the sore spot where it had previously been with his tongue. He stepped out of the shower and set the tooth on the counter. He began drying off and restructured his hair. He walked out of his bathroom and found a clean pair of underwear, then a shirt, and finally some loose fitting jeans. He smirked at himself in the mirror and found his way to the cafeteria. He was in need of replenishing his nutrients and grabbed as much food as he could. He sat himself down at a table and began inhaling scrambled eggs.
