Arthur nodded as Sienna spoke, sipping his tea and mulling over what she said. It all chimed with his own experience as well as his own suspicions. While he had never mentioned where he was, or any reason why he might be there, when he had asked after his father and his conspicuous absence the call had suddenly cut out. Just before it had, he had seen the expression on his mother's face. Fear. Like nothing he had ever seen before, it scared him to see her in that state, a sturdy woman who let no adversity get her down. Even during her battle with breast cancer she had barely wavered, ploughing on through the treatment as if it were nothing and coming out the other side as energetic and determined as ever.
Whatever had caused her to fear, for her husband, for Arthur's father, was severe enough for her to be unable to hide it. For the first time, Arthur seriously, desperately, wanted to break out from the facility and as quickly as possible. He would need to start planning, scavenging information where possible, before he made any overt moves; his underlying sense of unease was rising and not everything was as it seemed, he was sure of it.
"Oh, I'm certain there's more to all this. There's probably a perfectly good reason why we're not told everything." He put his cup down and met Sienna's gaze, trying to convey what he really wanted to say, before thanking her for the tea and waving goodbye to her and Cassius. Beginning to feel the cold from his exposed, wet skin, he hurried to the lockers and showered before towelling himself down and slipping into some jeans and a shirt. As he finished doing so the now familiar sound of the communication system rang through the facility."Good morning all - we'll be starting your sessions in the next twenty minutes to make sure y'all arrive on time! Artie, if you could come straightaway there's a few things we need to discuss on your results from your last session."
Sounds about right.He considered hanging around, rebelling against their perfectly reasonable sounding request but decided it would achieve nothing; he was meant to be playing the helpful and supportive character in the play so instead he made straight for his mentor's room. From inside he could briefly hear muffled voices but they were too quiet for him to make out individual words. Not wanting to look like he was attempting to eavesdrop, he stepped forwards and knocked on the door.
The voices stopped almost immediately and the door was pulled open by the still-unnamed Head Researcher who grinned ecstatically at him."Come in, come in. We have some major developments to discuss with you!"
She guided in him energetically although there was no mistaking the firmness of her grip on his arm as she manoeuvred him into the middle of the room. Behind them his burly, Russian mentor shut the door and then stood in front of it in a posture alarmingly like he was guarding it. Arthur turned his gaze away quickly, letting himself be moved toward a huge tank of water in the centre of the room.
The room itself seemed larger than last time, he could not conceive of this tank fitting in the room last time around and there was no other equipment left over from the last time they had come in. There were steps leading up to the edge of the tank and he was guided up there, all the while being talked to."We saw what you managed in the pool yesterday and I, have to say, your abilities are progressing very rapidly! It's very pleasing as our programme is working although it does mean we'll have to step up your regime to keep pace. It's always a race, you see, between you mastering your power and the infection taking control of you. Today we'll try and get you to focus on using your power deliberately."
They arrived at the top of the steps, a small platform running around the tank. It was not quite filled to the brim, its level perhaps a mere foot from the top. Next to him the chipper woman was gesturing at the water animatedly."We weren't sure how much water you can control at once so we went with a large volume. It might be your power better initiates when there's more, you see, so this will help us get a proper read."
She paused, turning to him with a serious look on her face, and he was struck by how odd that was to see. "There's another matter we need your help with, Artie. You see, the mental well being of the people in this facility directly correlates to how well they can mange their power; if they're distracted then they will make little progress and the virus may get the better of them. If they're focused and don't linger on the fact they're away from families and friends then there's a higher chance of success. I know you're an intelligent person, academic even, so you can understand what I'm saying."
Arthur nodded, seeing the logic in what she was saying. Of course, he was no scientist but he had enough of an understanding of psychology that he knew a positive focus yielded better results in almost anything than a negative one. Maintaining attention on the matter at hand, rather than their de facto imprisonment, seemed a sensible aim to improve their chances. She smiled at his understanding, some tension draining away from her posture."Good, I knew you'd understand Artie! So, here's where I need to ask you a favour. See, the people in here kind of look to you as someone to trust. Maybe not a leader or anything but someone who can calm, rational decisions."
He could see where she was going but kept his expression neutral. "It's all very well us putting out the facts and trying to explain everything but there are some things we just can't reveal just yet, it'd be counter-productive to the whole process."
So they were definitely listening in back there."What I need from you, Artie, is to keep their morale up, keep everyone focused on developing their powers so that they can beat the virus. Is that okay for me to put on you?"
He was tempted to refuse but there had been nothing in what she said that he could see a flaw in. His own feelings aside, the persona he had presented to them was of someone who seemed to 'understand' the importance of what they were doing in the facility and would be naturally supportive of what she asking him to do. Nevertheless, he hesitated but in the end he could see no reason to refuse her request and so nodded.
"I'll try, it won't always be easy though."
She smiled, clapping her hands and sighing with relief. "Oh, I knew you'd say yes. Besides, Artie, we always had our insurance in case you refused."
Then she pushed him into the tank.
He crashed deep under the water, his clothes soaking instantly and weighing him down, hampering his attempts to get back to the surface. Finally his head broke through into fresh air and he gasped for air, staring up at the woman in shock he had no need to fake. He thought he had been playing her but the whole time she had known who he was, what he was like. All the research they had done on them and somehow he had thought he could subvert it, trick them.
From above he could hear mechanical movement, the whirring of cables being reeled in and he looked up to see a lid suspended in the ceiling come down towards him. It had been too high for him to see and he had not expected anything like this, at least not yet. He turned towards the woman and saw her gazing down at him, a hard expression on her face, a dangerous glint in her eye. The lid closed down and he could hear seals locking into place. Water began to fill into the tank, the air escaping through a grate in the lid. Before long he was pressed up against the top of the tank, trying to suck in what little air was left in it before the water pushed up against it and there was nothing more to breathe. 