Arabella (3 page)

The shock discs might have been tiny – no bigger than a Pog – but they did the job well enough to buy me some time.

I had shot one glance at Cole over my shoulder before I took off across the room. I knew that it was only a matter of time until they caught on to me, given that they had been well aware of my abilities, but I was desperate to locate the hard-drive, and I hoped that Cole would have been able to keep them busy for a bit longer.

Just a bit longer, Cole
. I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to hear my thoughts projected among the others – honestly, I’d never really bothered to ask him in detail just how that little talent of his worked – but I hoped that he would.

I noticed a swift movement out of the corner of my eye as I neared the desk at the back of the room. “What the?”

A Horde member circled around me, an electric baton in his grasp. “You will surrender if you know what’s good for you.”

Well, that was a new one. The Horde had various gadgets, most of which had been crafted using stolen technology from Bilson Corporations, but the bright pulsing charge that illuminated from the baton was enough to tell me that I was in trouble. Because I knew damn well that hadn’t been a weapon developed at Bilson Corporations.

I might have had powers, but I was far from invincible.

I could still feel pain, and I knew the kind of pain those things could result in with limited advancements. And the baton that the Horde member had within his grasp? It looked like it had undergone nearly as many upgrades as I had, and that was a terrifying thought, because I knew the amount of testing sessions it took for me to become the weapon that I was.

“Well then, it’s a good thing I don’t know what’s good for me then, huh?”

A hand slammed against the small of my back, forcing me forward as Cole sped up beside me. For once, I found myself grateful that he had the ability to mirror my powers, because I knew I was going to need his help - which, although it shouldn’t have bothered me, it did.

“Really? That’s what you’re concerned about right now? Your pride taking a hit? In case you missed it, Bell, I’m pretty sure we have more pressing matters to take care of first.” Cole moved behind me, pressing his back to mine.

I presumed that most people would have found such an action to be reassuring, but honestly, I found it to be nothing more than frustrating. And that actually kind of pissed me off, because I knew that my pride and naivety made it difficult for me to accept help when a normal person would have accepted it without issue.

Then again, you’re not normal
, I reminded myself.

“Okay, Bell, can you stop having conversations with yourself now? It’s making it pretty fucking hard to focus on what’s going on.”

“You don’t have to listen,” I snapped. “Last I checked, I didn’t invite you into my head. If you don’t like what you hear, don’t listen. It’s as simple as that.”

“Except I don’t get to pick and choose what I’m able to hear and you know that.”

I chose not to answer him as the Horde member with the baton moved in closer, the blue light illuminated the baton giving it a menacing presence as he neared closer to me. “It’s going to take more than that to take me down, bud.”

“And you believe me to not know this?” He narrowed his eyes at me as he extended the baton out in front of him. “Do you know what is on those drives that your family is so eager to hide? Have you ever found yourself questioning what they valued your lives at?”

“I know what my life is valued at, you jackass. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get this over with. I do happen to have a life, and last I checked, it didn’t include you and your gang of psychopaths.”

I readied a shock disc in my hand, waiting for the right moment to throw it at the Horde member, knowing that I would only have one shot. That was the thing with the Horde. They threw their disposable team members at you right out of the gate. They saved the experienced killers for last.

I knew that going up against him could result in my death, something that would have sent a sane person running towards the nearest exit, but I wasn’t a sane person, and I was far too pissed off to miss the chance for a fight. “Are you sure you don’t want to back down? I won’t get mad if you bail because you’re fearful of getting your ass handed to you by a girl.”

“This is a fight you won’t win,” he answered, his voice more menacing than it had been before. “I know your moves, your fighting style. I know your faults, your weak-spots. I know how to take you down with a single blow, and do you want to know how I know?”

I rolled my eyes and went to throw a shock disc at him, eager to shut the fool up when Cole’s fingers curled around my arm, pulling me back. “Arabella,” my name was a mere whisper on his lips as his eyes locked on mine, full of fear.

As obnoxious as Cole could be, I had to give him credit. He’d never shown an ounce of weakness. And he certainly never made it a point to say my full name unless he was trying to convey something very important. “Care to explain why you just stopped me from zapping this jackass?”

Cole lowered his head and closed his eyes, taking a brief moment to collect himself before he finally answered. “I saw what he was thinking – what was on those hard-drives. I know what Bilson Corporations is trying to hide, and I know what the Horde wants with that information, and Bell? We need to get the hell of out here. Now.”

“You’re going to have to elaborate a bit more than that, Cole.” There was no way in hell I was going to leave without securing the hard-drive. Not for Mara and my father. For myself.

I needed to know what was going on.

Hell, I
deserved
to know what was going on. If my life was worth risking, then wasn’t that enough of a reason to warrant me hearing the truth?

Cole lowered his hand to mine, entwining his fingers with mine as he spoke. “We have maybe ten seconds before these guys tear our insides out, and I’m not much in the mood for dying.”

Even as he tried to make light of the situation, I could sense his fear as if it were my own. But the difference between Cole and I? I knew how to shut myself down; I knew how to close myself off from the rest of the world, to be the weapon that I’d been designed to be.

I had learned long ago that fear was nothing more than an illusion. It could only break you if you welcomed it in. Which was why I had made it a point to close myself off from the rest of the world.

“I’m not leaving without the hard-drive,” I finally responded. My eyes locked on the Horde member as I neared closer towards him.

“Your fearlessness fascinates me.” The Horde freak lifted his mask partially to reveal the lower portion of his face. An intimidating grin tugged at the corners of his mouth as he extended his hand forward, the baton still firmly within his grasp. “You know very well that I can easily kill you. You’ve seen what my men did to your sister. You know what we’re capable of, and yet, you stand before me.”

I opened my mouth to speak but decided against it at the last second, knowing very well that the jackass was trying to get to me.
Keep it together
, I reminded myself.

“Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?”

“If you insist.”

“What’s on the hard-drive, Freakshow?”

“Freakshow? Now that’s hardly fair, after all, I’m not the result of multiple scientific experimentations,” the man answered.

I stood still, my eyes locked on his, studying his every movement, waiting for the slightest movement. “Everyone has a telling move,” my trainer’s words replay in my mind as I study my subject. “Wait for it to make your move.”

The Horde jerk repositioned his arm in front of him, the pulsing baton casting a blue tint upon his face. Most people wouldn’t have taken that as a sign, but I’d fought off enough Horde members to know when one was about to attack.

Making sure to keep my movements swift and accurate, I spun around and tossed the shock disc at the baton, hoping to disable the dang thing. The look of surprise on the bastard’s face as he dropped the baton to the ground was enough to make the beating that was sure to follow worth it.

“Now, you’re going to tell me where that hard-drive is, and then I’ll happily leave you all to your business.”

“I don’t believe that will be happening, Arabella.”

“I’m honestly not in the mood for this today, Freakshow. So just give me the hard-drive, and we’ll call it even.”

“And if I may ask, what do you think is on that hard-drive?”

Cole zoomed in front of me, putting himself in between me and the Horde freak. “And what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“You don’t want to know what’s on that hard-drive, trust me, Bell.”

“Yeah see, I’m pretty sure you don’t get to speak for me on that matter.”

“If I were you, I’d listen to the boy.”

I shot a stern glance at the Horde member before turning my attention back to Cole. “Uh, can someone please explain to me what’s going on?”

Cole didn’t answer, which was cause enough for concern. When Cole wouldn’t talk? It was safe to say something was wrong. The blabbermouth was never one to stay quiet.

“The hard-drive, Arabella, it contains the records of every experimentation you’ve undergone along with every other Super at Bilson Corporations.”

The wall that I’d built to block the bit of fear from overpowering me earlier had come crashing down within an instant. “Well, I kind of always assumed that, so I can’t say that I’m entirely surprised.”

A curious look overcame the Horde member’s face as he stared at me as though lost in thought. “That isn’t all that the hard-drive contains.”

“Well then, please, enlighten me. What else is there?”

“The genetic make-up of every cloned Super birthed through your father’s research.”

“Clones? You seriously expect me to buy this shit?” Okay, so granted I was a superhuman, which pretty much proved that anything was possible, but clones? I’d grown up inside of Bilson Corporations. I would have known if my father had been creating clones of us Supers. At least, I liked to believe that I would have figure it out.

“Arabella, you are not the only one of your kind.”

“Well, no shit, Sherlock. That’s kinda obvious.” I made it a point to motion towards Cole. “I’m well aware that I’m not the only Super out there.”

The Horde member laughed. “A Super. I always found it quite amusing that he’d given you all that tile, especially you.”

I crossed my arms and bit my tongue, knowing that if I so much as opened my mouth, there was a damn good chance I would say something that would only make matters worse than they already were.

“You are nothing more than a machine, a product that can be replaced at any given time. You are not a Super, Arabella. You are no hero. You are nothing more than a weapon, and we will see to it that you serve out your purpose.”

O
ne week ago...

There were few things that made living inside of Bilson Corporations bearable.

Maggie had been one of them.

“Where’s your watcher Cole?” Maggie slid onto the couch beside me, resting her head on my shoulder. “Did he finally get a life, or did your father send him out on another mission?”

“Yeah, we both know that would never happen,” I grumbled. The idea that my father would have sent him out on a mission on his own was doubtful. Especially since Cole and I were essentially linked together – he relied on my powers as much as I relied on him for back-up. “He’s in his room. I told him I needed some space.”

“And he listened to that?”

“I wouldn’t so much say he listened as I threatened to hurt him if he tried to bother me tonight.”

“Ah, I should have figured as much,” she teased. “Always so violent.”

“And yet, you seem to have no problem with that.”

She shrugged her shoulders as she slid her arm around my shoulders. “What can I say? I like ‘em feisty.”

Maggie was one of the good things about Bilson Corporations, but she had always wanted more than I’d been willing to give her. For Maggie, I was more than a getaway. But for me? Our relationship had never been anything other than a small bit of sanity. And while there was a small part of me that felt bad for that, I had made it clear from the start what I had wanted. And even though I knew she had agreed to my terms – friends with benefits and nothing more – I knew that she had never been as comfortable with the arrangement as I had.

That was the only downside to closing yourself off to the rest of the world. I had become too used to being numb that I often found it easy to forget that the rest of the world wasn’t a cold-hearted asshole like me.

“I should probably get going before your father sends Cole to check up on you,” Maggie said, easing herself off of the couch.

“You don’t have to leave because of Cole,” I responded. “We’re not children, Mags. He doesn’t get to dictate what I do.”

“Yes, but he does have to report everything you do back to your father, and your father already dislikes that we spend so much time together.”

I leaned back against the couch, turning my attention towards the ceiling, because I knew that I had no way to respond to that. I was a grown woman, more than capable of making my own decisions, but I was also my father’s project.

And since I was his project, I had little say over my life.

Was it pathetic? Yes. Did I stand a chance at changing it? Nope. And I knew that. Both Cole and Maggie knew that. I tried; I tried like hell to escape his strings, and failed each and every time.

“I’ll see you around then,” I said, slipping off of the couch and heading towards my bed. I could feel Maggie’s eyes locked on me, waiting for me to turn around and walk back to her, to say goodbye, to tell her that I’d miss her. But I didn’t, and there was a small part of me that hated myself for that, because I knew she deserved better.

I was not the person she deserved, but I was the person that she wanted, all while I treated her as nothing more than a convenience.

I seriously need to get out of here more
, I reminded myself,
before this place wears me down; before I allowed myself to feel sorry for those around me, and for my actions
.