章節 70: The Others

The door slowly went open, and Liam, now sitting up in bed, turned his eyes towards it. Four teenagers, around his age, stood by the doorway.

'Oh, great,' Liam thought as the door swung fully open. 'Not a moment of peace. I still had so much to test.' He sighed internally.

The group stepped into the room, the first being a beautiful blonde girl who threw herself into a nearby chair. The others followed, standing nearby, not sure how to speak to someone who's been hospitalized for so long.

"Hi, newcomer. So, what were you doing to end up looking like that?" Illyana smirked, pointed towards his back.

Liam stared at them, remembering all of their identity's and backgrounds one by one.

"Not going to talk? Or you don't speak English?" Illyana pressed, still smirking.

"Give him a break, Illyana. He just woke up," Sam interjected.

"I do speak English," Liam finally said, in a normal tone. "As for what I was doing? I don't see why I should tell you. I don't even know who any of you are."

"We found you outside with your back completely melted," Rahne spoke quietly. "We brought you here to recover. When we heard from Reyes that you woke up, we thought we'd come check on you."

Liam nodded. "Thank you for bringing me in here," he said sincerely.

"Don't thank us yet," Illyana cut in. "You're also trapped in this cage forever."

"Cage, huh?" Liam murmured, remembering details from the New Mutants movie. The memory of the barrier went through his mind. 'That should be easy to break. I should also be able to just portal out.'

"Don't say that, Illyana," Rahne came in, before turning back to Liam with a smile. "Dr. Reyes said that once we all have control of our powers, we'll be able to live normal lives. Until then, she's keeping us safe here."

Illyana scoffed, dismissing Rahne's optimism with a wave of her hand. "Anyway, what's your mutant power, newcomer?"

"I'm not a mutant," Liam replied. "And stop calling me newcomer."

"You don't know your power yet?" Dani asked, she was reserved but Liam could tell that she was curious despite standing in the corner of the room.

Liam raised an eyebrow. 'What part of 'I'm not a mutant' do these people not understand? I don't have the X-gene, so no I'm not a mutant.'

Dani, hearing no reply continued. "It's okay," she said. "Dr. Reyes told me she could figure mine out with some tests. I'm sure she could do the same for you."

Illyana snorted as she stood up, heading for the door. "Great, another sissy," she muttered. "See that, Lockheed? Just like I said he'd be." She looked at her stuffed dragon as she spoke to it, carrying it with her as she left.

Liam looked with a deadpanned expression at the leaving Illyana. 'Of course, the girl who talks to a stuffed animal calls me a sissy.'

"Ignore her," Sam said apologetically. "She does that." Gesturing towards the others, he continued, "Her name's Illyana. I'm Sam, that's Rahne, and the quiet one in the corner is Dani. There's also Roberto, but he didn't want to come along."

Liam remembered Roberto's backstory. 'Him not being here makes sense,' he thought. 'He's still traumatized about burning his girlfriend alive so seeing someone with such heavy burn injuries is not something he'd want to see.'

On the outside, he started smiled. "I'm Liam. I don't know how I got here, but thank you for saving me." He decided to put on a polite front for now.

"It was actually Illyana who found you," Sam said. "She called for help."

Liam nodded, piecing the story together. 'That makes sense. Then that dimension I was in first must've been her Limbo dimension.'

After the introductions, the other two girls left, leaving only Sam with Liam. Sam stayed, explaining more about the facility, the others, and their situation before excusing himself to let Liam rest.

Once the door shut, Liam was alone again. He exhaled deeply. 'Finally, some time to experiment,' he thought.

He tried standing but winced as pain shot through his back. "Probably another one to three days before I can walk normally," he estimated, observing his slow healing ability. 'Let's start with some testing then.'

He reached out instinctively to summon a portal but froze. "My sling ring... it's gone," he realized with a sinking feeling. "They must've taken it while treating me."

"For fuck's sake," he cursed under his breath, annoyed.

Shaking off the setback, Liam refocused. "Let's see if the books in my pocket dimension are still fine," he thought. Despite the pain, he lifted his hand into the air.

A book appeared out of thin air in his hand, on the surface of the book were some strange runes. He flipped through the pages, one by one. "It worked," he thought. He had managed to bring the books from the Akame Ga Kill dimension with him to this dimension.

"Might as well study these while I heal," Liam decided.

He retrieved a notebook and pen from his dimensional pocket and began his usual deciphering method: identifying pictures and matching the runes beneath them.

Days passed, every day was pretty much the same. Outside of occasional visits from Dr. Reyes and Sam, Liam was left alone. Illyana dropped by every once in a while, always asking him about his powers, while the others avoided him entirely, likely put off by the scars on his back.

Dr. Reyes, meanwhile, had grown increasingly curious about Liam. She often asked him about his identity and powers, telling him that her system couldn't find any records of him.

A day after Liam woke up, she had replaced the camera he'd destroyed, but it didn't help her in the slightest.

Liam managed to continue his research, relying on a trick he'd made up. Every time Dr. Reyes installed a new camera, it would mysteriously break, leaving her very irritated although she didn't show it. Each time she came, Liam would casually the camera and after installing a new camera he would refreeze it again, breaking the circuits inside over and over again.

Dr. Reyes wasn't oblivious to the strange events. Her sensors had picked up a low but consistent energy level in Liam's body. After examining him, she found out about his unusually fast healing, concluding that he possessed a low-level regenerative ability alongside impressive physical abilities. The whip construct he'd summoned earlier also interested her, making her start on planning how to push him into revealing even more.

On the third morning, Liam woke early, his body feeling significantly better. "Three days," he noted, studying his condition. "I think I can walk again. A few more days, and there won't be any trace left of the injuries."

Carefully standing up from the bed, Liam stretched, testing his body's limits. Despite the initial stiffness, he felt strong. "Didn't lose much physical strength during the coma," he observed. "Thanks, Incursio."

Satisfied with his progress, Liam pressed the call button beside his bed. An alarm went off inside the room from Dr. Reyes, summoning her.

Minutes later, she entered, her face looked extremely tired. She paused when she saw Liam walking slowly around the room.

"I think I'm ready to leave, Doc," Liam told her, looking her straight in her eyes.

創作者的想法
Donnuuu

About to get to some fun :).

Does Liam have a trauma/fear, and if so, would Dani's ability be able to realize it :D.

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章節 71: Dream

"I think I'm ready to leave, Doc," Liam told her.

"You aren't healed yet," Dr. Reyes replied. "Also, you don't have control over your mutant ability. If people from the outside world accidentally found out about your powers, they would ostracize you—or worse," Dr. Reyes said, her voice calm and soft.

"You can stay here a while longer until you can control your powers. Once you do, you'll be moved to my superiors' facility to regain an identity." She smiled warmly, though her intent was very clear to Liam.

Liam nodded. "Sure, but Doctor, did you find a golden ring when I got here? It's a ring for over two fingers."

Dr. Reyes nodded. "Was it something important to you?" she asked, searching for an emotional gap to exploit.

Liam nodded again.

"I'll go to my office to retrieve it later," she said. She made some more small talk with Liam before leaving the room. "Also, I'll send Sam here to bring you to a new room," she added before walking out.

'She's fishing for information,' Liam mused. 'I'll stay here for a few more days anyway. Once I've recovered more, I'll ask Illyana to open a portal and see if I can change Incursio with the energy.'

Liam turned his head as he heard a knock on the door. In walked Sam, sporting a bruised face and a black eye.

"What happened to you?" Liam asked.

"Nothing. Just punishment for myself. Don't mind it," Sam replied, sitting down with a piece of charcoal in his hand.

"What's the charcoal for?" Liam asked.

"It's something my dad gave me, right before he passed," Sam said, his voice heavy.

Liam nodded softly, listening along. 'I remember this. He killed almost the entire crew his father worked with—alongside his father—because the mines gave him claustrophobia that awakened his powers. And these nightmares, that other girl, Dani without control over her powers is causing them.'

"You know, I'd like to say I know how you feel, but I really don't. My mother died giving birth, and my father abandoned me even before that. My grandfather raised me all on his own after that," Liam said.

"Your grandfather, is he still alive?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, he's living his best life on a farm far away from busy cities," Liam said, smiling softly as he remembered the last time he left his grandfather.

After some more small talk, Sam stood up. "I heard from the doc that you're healed enough to walk again," he said. "Come on, I'll show you the room the doc has for you."

Liam nodded and stood up, following behind Sam as he opened the door. They walked through corridors until they reached a hallway lined with what looked like holding cells.

"They didn't really get the memo about this being a hospital, did they?" Liam asked.

"You'll get used to it. These aren't even the actual holding cells here," Sam replied with a smile. "Those ones are in a corridor right beside this one, so far the only person who has used them is Illy.''

"Yeah, I bet she could use some of that," Liam joked, having some fun with Sam.

Sam stopped in front of another door at the end of the hallway. "This is yours from now on. Lights need to be out at 11 p.m., and no more walking around after that," he said.

"Thanks. Anything else I need to know?" Liam asked.

"The doctor wanted me to tell you that training starts in half an hour. We always have training at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.," Sam answered.

"Alright. Can you pick me up later? I have no idea where this classroom is," Liam requested.

"Sure thing," Sam replied before heading off.

Liam stepped into his new room, immediately looking around the cramped and almost prehistoric space with disgust. 'Even the rooms inside the Sanctum are better and larger than this,' he thought. His eyes fell onto a camera hidden in the corner of the room. 'Another camera? Really? Does she not understand the concept of privacy?'

He sat down and began meditating as time passed. Half an hour went by quickly, and Sam knocked on the door to pick him up. Standing beside him was another boy around Liam's age, Roberto.

Liam greeted both of them, though Roberto seemed wary at first. Once it became clear Liam's scars were not visible, Roberto's behaviour improved slightly.

They made their way to the class while making some small talk. Upon arriving, they found the three other girls already there.

"As everyone knows by now, this is our new patient, Liam Hawthorne. Please join us, Liam," Dr. Reyes said, gesturing to an empty spot on the ground.

Liam nodded to them and sat down while Sam and Roberto took their usual places.

"Today's lesson will be about control," Dr. Reyes began. "We will start with meditation. Since it's your first time, Liam, everyone will follow my instructions again."

Liam nodded, keeping up with his act, while Illyana and Roberto rolled their eyes and didn't bother participating.

"Everyone, close your eyes. Cross your legs and take a deep breath in through your nose," Dr. Reyes instructed. "Now slowly release through your mouth."

"Keep repeating this. Try to control yourself as much as possible," she continued.

Liam sighed internally but followed along.

"Control," Dr. Reyes kept repeating, over and over again, as if saying it would magically make it happen. 'If she could just be quiet, people might actually be able to focus,' Liam thought bitterly while he tried to think about some magic related theories.

The lesson passed quickly, and everyone went their separate ways. Liam returned to his room, he still remembered the teenage drama that would happen later from the movie and couldn't be bothered participating in it.

That night, Liam went to sleep at his usual time. Earlier, while studying the books he had retrieved from the other dimension, he stumbled upon something interesting. 'There's a clear drawing on this page of what looks like the Tyrant I remember from the anime,' he thought.

The illustration showed a massive blue beast with four eyes, four legs, fur covering its back, sharp teeth, and hooks coming from the sides of its face. 'I've deciphered a few words, but it's nowhere near enough to understand anything yet.' He thought as he closed the book and went to sleep.

That night, an unknown energy entered Liam's body. The white energy within him instinctively fought against it while Liam himself fell into a deep sleep.

In his dream, Liam found himself running over icy landscapes on all fours. His body was enormous, trampling trees as he chased a group of deers. Suddenly, he stopped, sensing danger ahead. A colossal figure appeared in the distance, around it were countless tiny figures that also started appearing from all the other sides, surrounding him completely.

Without hesitation, he attacked, releasing flame breaths from his mouth. He incinerated thousands of people, while adapting to poisons and acids they catapulted on him. The battle went on for hours as he slaughtered countless enemy's, but he started feeling the exhaustion of his energy the longer the battle went on.

Suddenly, a sharp pain went through his chest.

Liam shot up in bed, grasping for his heart.

"What was that dream?" he muttered, still slightly dazed. 'I had no control over my body at all, and the countless humans...'

He recalled the massacre he had done while using the body of the massive beast: the blue body, the fire breath, the adapting to poisons. 'That wasn't just a dream. It must have been a memory from Incursio,' Liam realized.

'Did that girl influence me because she still has no control over her powers?' He thought. 'Maybe staying here is more useful than I originally thought,' he concluded, surprised since he hadn't thought she would be able to influence him, or rather influence Incursio like that.

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