Saphire sat down in her appointed quarters. She'd been here for ten years now. Like she'd expected, it was just another cage, if a more gilded one. People like her couldn't be allowed to walk free. She could feel it emanating from them all. Fear. Suspicion. Even hate. Nobody liked mutants, nobody wanted them, and anyone that believed anything else was a fool. She'd made them like her as much as she could, but she held no delusions. Even her powers couldn't change basic human nature, not without breaking people's minds. The doctors had been nice, and she'd cooperated with all their experiments. However, she'd downplayed her powers. She'd pretend to be woozy and tired when she wasn't even near her limit, and hid her abilities as much as possible. If her powers were what got her here, having more powers would be a bad thing.
Reaching out, she called out softly with her mind. Wiper, a large spider, crawled out from a small crack in the floor, crawling up her clothes and into her palm. Wiper liked her, that much she knew. It was a forged friendship, Wiper was her slave, but it made Saphire unreasonably happy. In her mind, she believed the spider to be her loyal companion, instead of a slave to her every thought, and they would surely make it through this together. Surely.
Smiling, Saphire reached out, as more and more spiders crawled from all over her room. Cockroaches, flies, bees, ants, mosquitos, they all came to her, covering her. She smiled, as they swarmed through her room, all in her mind, a single entity, with so many parts. Then, as easily as she had called the small army of insects, she sent them away, off to do their separate duties, watching the area, spread everywhere, extending her power. She had recruited birds, too, when she managed to get close enough. It made her feel strong, spreading her mind all over the complex. This was HER terrain. Even if it was a cage, it was hers, and she would not let anyone ruin it for her. She would rather die than submit to that nightmare again.
