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chapter thirty-five ━ the place of shattered dreams

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EVERYTHING AROUND HER was white. Skylar found herself squinting hard at the bright light above her that was shining down like a beacon. She was not stupid, she knew she wasn't dead, even if it felt like she was. Her mind was foggy and her vision was blinded. She couldn't sit up either and once she went to raise her hand to shield her eyes, she figured out why: there were bindings around her wrists and ankles. Her memory failed her when she started to ask herself what had happened and what she was doing there. She was too tired, too weak to do anything, let alone think. Then, slowly, her other senses became aware. Her ears picked up a very quiet beeping sound. Was she in a hospital? Was she hurt? She half expected to see Bruce's face peering down at her, giving her one of his soft smiles. She started to remember.

I think it's best if we part ways, maybe for good

Jerome had been right along. He did break her heart. No. He did worse than that. The billionaire boy grabbed her heart, ripped it out of her chest, and then crushed it in front of her face slowly, laughing at how pathetic she was, laughing at how easily she fell for his lies. She should have never trusted him. She should have never let her guard down. And still, she did despite her brother's warnings and her head telling her not to. She took a risk and it blew up in her face. It was all her fault. But that did not explain how she was now in a hospital, tied up.

Prepare her cell

Strange. Skylar remembered now. He drugged her and that assistant of his helped him do so. So what? They were now considering her an Arkham inmate? That was ridiculous and insane. She doubted this was about Galavan and even if it was, how would any of this benefit him or Strange himself? Even if money was involved, surely they would know someone would come looking for her eventually. Barbara would, so would Damon, so would Selina. . .maybe even. . .no, he wouldn't.

Finally, her eyes started to adjust, her head spinning a little as she tried to blink away nausea that was bubbling to the surface. The light was still bright but she at least managed to see that there were several lights, all of which were one with the ceiling. She turned her head to the left with little energy, looking to see that the walls were white, plain. She turned to the right to see that the wall was completely made out of one-sided mirrors. Her pale reflection stared back at her and the truth shone back at her.

She was strapped to a hospital bed that was slightly raised from her waist up. There were many different tubes attached to her arms and even her neck. Her attire had been changed into a plain white hospital gown. The sight was not a pretty one. Her hair was a mess, sticking to the back of her neck and her forehead. Her cheeks were slightly sunken in as if she were deathly ill. And her eyes looked dim as if all life was gone. She supposed that was fitting at least.

A door opened and she looked straight ahead. Hugo Strange was making his way towards her, his smile creepy but victorious. He was smug. If she had the strength, she may have just spat in his face and told him to let her go. He seemed aware of her thoughts because he chuckled lightly and patted the top of her head.

"Now, now, Skylar, we do not need you to strain yourself," he spoke, speaking as if he were scolding her as a parent would. "We, unfortunately, had to remove quite a bit of your blood. I'm afraid to DNA won't mix unless we took out a pretty significant amount. Your body is weak but there is nothing to fear. After all of this is done, you will be thanking me."

"What are you talking about?" she questioned. She didn't even sound like herself. She sounded small, frail, broken. "What are you doing to me? Why am I in Arkham, I did nothing wrong." God, she knew how her tone was coming across: lost and afraid. And she was exactly those things. She was just a frightened kid who wanted to go home, only, there was no home left for her, only a place full of shattered dreams.

He continued to caress her head, treating her as if she were his child. "My dear, sweet, Skylar. You are not in Arkham." She could not hold back her confused expression, wishing she could pull away from him but she couldn't. "As for what is happening. . .that is not something you need to be worried about. I'm going to take very good care of you." His cold, dead fingers brushed the hair out of her eyes. "You are going to be my greatest creation yet. You are going to be my perfect experiment."

Experiment? She tried to move but didn't get very far, of course, her hands and feet trying to fight against the bindings, to no avail. She did not know she was crying until he started to wipe her tears away, soothing her by shushing her, his hands still touching her hair which reeked of sweat.

"Let me go," she cried. "Let me go! Please!"

"I'm sorry, child, but I cannot." Strange no longer looked happy. In fact, he looked rather impatient, as if her cries were irritating to him. What did he expect? There was no way in hell she was just going to submit to him and be perfectly fine with all of this. She was not an experiment. She was not his creation. She was nothing. And maybe that's why he picked her. He knew she was too weak to fight back.

He let her go finally and walked away. The door opened, closing behind him silently. She sobbed, sniffling, laying her head back against the bed. The room was getting smaller and she felt as if she were suffocating. Her heart rate picked up. The beeping got louder, quicker. Her entire body started heating up. She knew what was happening. She was having an attack. But the second she started to hyperventilate, a red liquid started racing through the tubes, heading straight for where they were attached to her body.

"No! No! No!" she sobbed. The blood entered her body and that's when she realized that something was sticking inside of her head. Her head turned slowly to look at the mirror. To her horror, she realized that her head wasn't just full of sweat. It was full of blood. They had cracked her skull open. Not even a few seconds after her discovery, the machine that was attached to the things in her head started to buzz. She thought that that was all it was going to do and for a moment she relaxed.

Then she started screaming when the needles stuck in her head started to make her feel as if all of the blood in her veins was on fire. The beeping got louder and louder but the sounds of her screams drowned all of it out. Strange was on the other side of the glass with Ms. Peabody, the two of them observing as the girl's DNA was forced to merge with the other DNA they were pumping through her system.

Of course, other things would need to be altered, such as certain parts of her brain which they would get to after this procedure if everything went according to plan. They had lots to change. Merging DNA was the easy part, but changing someone's instincts was a whole other thing. Not to mention they also had to improve her senses, among other aspects of herself. They had a lot to do and such little time. Though their schedule had to be rushed, Strange was positive that everything would continue as planned and soon enough he could release his creation into the world. He was feeling confident that it would work flawlessly and he had hope that she would make him proud.

Skylar did not share the same sentiment. Her entire body was burning and yet she could see no change on the outside. Tears fell down her cheeks, almost scolding hot. Her screams never died out, not until her voice went hoarse but even then she was whimpering, crying silently. For some reason, she was not becoming unconscious and was almost forced to stay awake. She supposed that was what the things in her head were for. And as she laid there, her body changing, her mind cloud with pain, she had a sickening feeling in her chest as a realization hit her.

No one was coming to save her.

———

Skylar didn't know when it was over. All she did know was by the time she opened her eyes again, her left arm was thrown around someone's neck and they were leading her down a hallway full of steel doors. Cells. The man who was leading her stopped at the one end the end of the hallway, unlocked it by pressing in a set of numbers into a keypad next to the door, and then laid her on the hard and uncomfortable bed inside. He closed and locked the door before leaving.

She raised her head only a tiny bit because it was all she could muster. Her eyes were nearly swollen shut. Somehow she managed to reach up and feel the back of her head. There was a bunch of bandages and as her fingers followed the trail of it, she found out that her entire head had been wrapped up, her hair stuck underneath it all. She looked down at her arms and found little bandaids over where each tube went. The good news was, she didn't feel like she was on fire anymore, though she did still feel like all the energy had been drained from her.

Her head fell back against the flat pillow, her body too exhausted to care that the bed they provided was absolute shit. All she wanted to do was fall asleep and never wake up. The world seemed to have other plans.

"Hello?" She ignored it. It's in her head. It's not real. "Hello? Anyone there?"

"For fuck's sake," she murmured, her throat protesting when she spoke, causing her to wince and grab her neck. The voice said something else she did not catch. It was coming from behind her. She turned her body slowly, hesitantly, whimpering. When she got onto her right side, she noticed that there was a tiny slot in the wall, covered by three bars. There were eyes on the other side and she gasped, jumping a bit.

"Sorry!" the girl apologized quickly, backing up a little. "I didn't mean to scare you, I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry." Skylar stared at her, her breathing going back to normal. It was all a dream. It was not real. Her eyes started to close. "No, no, no, wait! Please don't fall asleep yet."

"Fuck off." She was surprised the girl even heard her because her voice came out so quiet. However, she found herself listening to her anyway, allowing her swollen eyes to reopen to see the girl. She was blonde, tiny, looking similar to how she looked in the sense that her cheeks were sunken in and she looked like a ghost.

When the girl saw her eyes open up, she beamed. How she could smile in a time like this was beyond her. And it was a genuine one too which was almost worse. The last thing she wanted to see was someone happy and the last thing she wanted to hear was someone giving her hope.

"What's your name? I'm Kennedy."

Great, this girl wanted to be friends. Skylar was not interested in talking or getting to know anyone. There was no point. There was no point in anything anymore. There was no way she was getting out of whatever this place was and there was no way someone else was going to be kind enough to actually want to befriend her without having an ulterior motive. Strange said that this was not Arkham but it had to be, so this meant this girl was an inmate, a rather young one at that.

"Lily. Now fuck off."

She lied but who cared? It wasn't like this girl would ever find out she lied and even if she did, it would not matter. She was not even sure why she lied, she just felt like it. Or maybe she did know. After all, she hardly felt like any of what she was experiencing was real. She didn't feel like herself either. Whatever Strange was doing to her was truly messing with her head.

"Lily. . ." Kennedy trailed off, moving to lay her body against the wall, her blonde hair still visible through the little slot. "That's not actually your name, is it?"

She did not answer her, that time, letting the topic go. The brunette rolled onto her other side and allowed her eyes to close. But that didn't mean she did not hear the quiet sigh of the girl in the next cell over. And that did not mean she missed how sad it sounded.

"Where am I?" Every word scraped against the inside of her throat but she still spoke anyway. The little pain it provided reminded her that she was still alive despite how she felt.

"I'm not quite sure myself. . .though I believe it's a place called Indian Hill."

———

Selina slapped Bruce Wayne hard across the face.

The boy flinched, holding a hand to his bright red cheek. He winced only a bit but it did not matter if it hurt, only that he got the message she was sending him through the hit. He knew what it was for, she made sure he knew that well. And truly, he did not need another reminder of the events that took place days before. He did not want to think about the conversation that broke the heart of the girl he could not stop thinking about.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Selina screeched, trying to slap him again, but this time he caught her wrist, looking straight at her. She snatched her hand away from him, glaring hard enough to send him six feet under. "Skylar is missing. She won't answer any of my calls or my texts and it is all because of you!"

"She just needs time," Bruce told him, clearly not in as much distress. He knew what he did was wrong, but he also knew that Skylar was not missing. She was safe somewhere in the city, probably trying to clear her head. "You make it sound like she's in danger."

"And what if she is?" He began to walk away from her, heading for the study. Alfred appeared from the kitchen, a rag over his shoulder. He said nothing as the two teens passed by him. They entered the study and he closed the doors, turning around, and then was smacked in the face again. "What if she's hurt?!"

"Stop doing that!" he snapped, rubbing his now even brighter cheek. Now it looked like he was blushing. He walked over to the desk, his eyes settling on the picture frame that he had recently put on the surface. It was a picture of him and Skylar, one he had taken on her birthday a few months ago. She hadn't wanted to take the picture but did anyway. He didn't know why she changed her mind until she had left with her broken heart.

She liked him back then. For that brief moment, she let herself be vulnerable. And he ruined it. He ruined everything.

Selina stormed over to him, ready to give him a piece of her mind. Then her eyes fell on the picture he was still staring at. Though she was still extremely angry with him, she could not help that the words died on the tip of her tongue. Instead, all of her rage dissipated, her shoulders slumping. She looked over at him. His face was unreadable.

"Deep down you know something is not right. I went to Arkham to find her and Strange said she never showed up. Barbara got discharged days ago and Damon went with her. I can't find either of them. Charlotte is missing too." She glanced back at the picture. "Something to Skylar and no one else is going to notice. We have to find her."

"And what if she doesn't want to be found?" Bruce asked, turning to face her. "She needs time and space, she'll come back when she's ready. Now can you leave? I have things to do." He looked away from her, rounding the desk before sitting down, opening a file that contained all the information he had so far about the death of his parents.

Selina stared at him for a long hard moment, shaking her head in utter disbelief. She pressed her hands on the desk, leaning close to his face. "You disgust me." He barely held back a flinch. "You don't deserve her. She was too good for you." Then she left through the open balcony door, slamming it behind her. Once Bruce was alone, he closed the file, pushed it forward, and put his head in his hands. She was right after all. She believed every single thing she had said too. Every word that came out of her mouth was the truth.

And everything he said was lies.

———

Skylar could not feel anything. Whatever they injected into her kept her both still and unable to feel any sensation. She was glad they did, even if everything they were doing to her was wrong. After she went to sleep to the sound of Kennedy's humming, she was awoken by the same man picking her up and taking her to the same white room, only this time, they didn't inject any tubes into her. All they did was remove the bandages around her head, injected her with something, and then started working on her brain.

She couldn't even move her head, forced to stare ahead as Strange did his work. The only reaction her body had was a few tears that fell down her chest that ran all the way to her chin, dropping into her lap, forgotten. Ms. Peabody was there as well, speaking when she needed to. She listened to everything they were saying but even then nothing made sense, no matter how hard she tried to figure out what they were doing. And the worst thing was, she still did not know what kind of "experiment" she was.

"Her DNA successfully merged with the other," Strange had said when they first came in. He said other things during the procedure, but nothing that gave her answers. "We won't have time to fully complete the experiment, we will have to finish another time. For now, let's focus on heightening her senses."

"What about her instincts?" Ms. Peabody had asked.

"Surprisingly her brain appears to be shifting on its own. We will need to make a few adjustments, but nothing too major like we originally anticipated." Then he paused. "Patience Ms. Peabody. And don't forget, we will need to run some tests soon."

Not much was said after that, only the occasional doctor speak, to which his assistant would scribble down quickly on her clipboard. The wait was pure and utter torture. She couldn't move or speak for hours, her body kept in the same position as he changed her mind into the way he wanted it to be. She could not feel a difference but then again she couldn't feel anything at all. Even after time dragged on and she became sure that she had been there for a long time, whatever they injected her with stayed strong.

Finally, Strange told her that he was finished, though he did add-in that he had made the adjustments he was talking about earlier. Why were they heightening her senses? Could that even happen? And why would they need to change her instincts? None of what they were doing made any sense. But as much as she wanted to know what he was doing, what she really wanted to know was how this benefited him. What did he get out of this?

Skylar could move again soon after he was finished patching up her head, no doubt fixing the gap he had created in her skull. She was under the impression that she would be able to go back to her cell. Even though she hardly knew the girl, she wished she could just hear her voice. At least Kennedy didn't pry around her brain and call her an experiment.

Strange and Ms. Peabody left the room shortly after she started to move her hand to feel the back of her head. After a few minutes of waiting, no one came to get her, making her frown. Then, his voice sounded through the room.

"Miss Valeska?" She clamped her hands over her ears and winced. His voice. . .it was loud. Too loud. "Miss Valeska, I'm going to need you to calm down." Suddenly she was aware of her heartbeat. It pounded in her ears, almost deafening. "Take deep breathes now." She had no choice but to listen to him because she wanted it to stop. She wanted everything to stop. "Good." His voice was quieter now, normal volume.

Was he messing with her?

"Miss Valeska, if you could, tell me what you can hear."

She could not help but frown, going to tell him she heard nothing but then she stopped. There was a faint thumping sound coming from somewhere. She got off the bed, her legs shaking as she stood up on her feet. Her body. . .it didn't feel weak anymore. In fact, she felt stronger. She could not describe the sensation, only that she felt truly invincible. How was that possible? Her head turned towards the wall full of mirrors and she walked towards it, the thumping getting louder.

"I hear. . .a heartbeat."

"Good, that's very good. Now do me a favor and tell me how you feel right now."

Skylar didn't know how to answer that. Her entire body felt like a feather, it felt so lightweight. She found herself walking along the wall of mirrors. Her movements were different. Before she moved in the way Selina had taught her: slow and stealth. But even then she messed up and was not as stealthy as she would like to be. Even then she still didn't make jumps across rooftops. As elegant as she tried to be back then, it never worked. Now? Her body moved gracefully without her having to put much effort into it. All she did was walk and her steps were quiet, almost as if she weren't even touching the ground. It felt. . .

"I feel powerful," she told him honestly, something inside her head agreeing wholeheartedly. After she said that, she heard a faint sound from the other side of the mirrors, then, a voice was speaking to her.

"I feel powerful," the voice said. Wait. Was that her voice? No, it couldn't be. That voice was much too beautiful to be her's. It sounded so soft, so serene. It made her want to close her eyes and fall asleep. It made her want to do whatever the voice wanted her to do. That couldn't be her voice and somehow she knew it was. What had they done to her?

"Interesting," Strange hummed and her head turned towards a speaker in the corner of the room, the corner on the right on the same wall of mirrors. He was behind it. There must be a room where he was operating from. He was watching her. He was testing her. Still, she didn't quite understand. So all he did was heighten her senses and make her voice sound different? That could not be right.

"My name is Bruce Wayne."

A switch flipped in her mind and Skylar barreled towards the speaker, a snarl ripping from her throat. Bruce. He wasn't there, she knew that, but that did not change the anger she felt when she heard his voice. She snarled again, her legs bending slightly as her body moved into a crouch, almost as if she were getting ready to attack. Unexpectedly, she spun to the wall of mirrors, ready to lunge through them and strangle the man who did this to her.

She recoiled from her own reflection.

Glowing orange eyes stared back at her.

Her glowing eyes.

"I understand that all of this must be very confusing for you," Strange spoke slowly. She heard his voice but she also wasn't listening at the same time. "You, Skylar, are something that I was not able to perfect until now. Merging human DNA with DNA from an animal is a lot harder than it may seem." What? What was he talking about? "I had many to choose from but after I observed you in your natural state and conducted some research, I found the perfect animal DNA to use for you. Tell me, what is it that Oswald Cobblepot used to call you when you stayed with him?"

How did he know that? How the hell did he know about that? She shook her head, blinking, her eyes returning to normal. Oswald called her plenty of nicknames, trying to find something that stuck. Faster than she thought, she found the answer. No. No.

"He used to call me a fox," she realized, staring down at the ground, her eyes welling with tears.

"Do not be sad, child. I understand that this is all very overwhelming for you, but you will adjust soon. Your DNA was merged with that of a red fox. Your instincts have been slightly altered and your senses have heightened. Your voice has changed as well. You are supposed to be a beautiful creature, it seems fitting for you to sound the part. As for the eyes, that is, unfortunately, a side-effect we did not anticipate." He paused and for a moment, she thought he went away. "We will continue testing you tomorrow. For now, I will have someone escort you to the showers, you are in dire need of a good wash. Dinner will be brought to your cell. And thank you for cooperating Miss Valeska. You are very obedient."

She clenched her fists at that, the tears no longer created from her sadness, but instead, from her anger. He changed her completely. She was a freak now because of him. Her head lifted to look at the mirrors, her glowing orange eyes appearing again. She tried blinking but they wouldn't go away. This was just a dream. It was all just a dream.

The man that brought her to her cell entered the room, walking towards her. Even though he was moving at a normal pace, her mind worked fast, faster than it ever had before. Instantly she had a solution. Foxes were sneaky, cunning, quick. They were free. And she wanted to be free.

His hand reached for her and with speed she never had before, she grabbed his arm and twisted it, the sound of his bones breaking echoing through the room. He howled in pain. Her lips curved upwards, pleased with his agony. She rose her fist and then punched him hard, breaking his jaw the second the blow was met. Other men piled in, all with guns raised and aimed at her. She recoiled, her lips pulling back into another snarl, her eyes scanning all of them. Her vision focused on the guns they were using. They weren't regular guns. They weren't going to shoot her with bullets.

"Get down now!" one of them shouted at her.

Skylar begged her mind to come up with a solution again but nothing came up. Her brain was fogging up, there was too much going on, there was too much to process. Her mind was becoming overwhelmed. She clutched her head when a siren echoed through the room, yelling as she collapsed onto her knees. The men rushed over and someone put a collar on around her neck, the siren dying immediately. She tried to fight back but her strength vanished. It was gone.

Two men dragged her to the hallway that contained her cell. No shower for her she guessed. They tossed her in and locked the door. She ran to it, banging her fists against it.

"Let me out! Let me out!" No one listened to her. No surprise there. So, she gave up, falling to the floor. Her senses seemed back to how they were when she was still normal, human. However, she found herself wanting to go over to her bed and just curl up into a ball. She stood up and did just that, tucking her head into her knees.

"Lily?" Her head rose, seeing Kennedy staring at her. The girl must have seen her eyes because she gasped. Then, she moved closer, peering through the bars. "Your eyes are so. . .pretty." She hadn't been expecting that answer. "I see they gave you a collar too." The girl moved up to her knees, showing her neck to reveal a collar. "They make us wear them so we can't use our abilities."

"You have abilities?"

Kennedy froze, her lips parting slowly. Skylar silently cursed Strange, closing her eyes. She could easily act normal with heightened senses, right? She could even wear contacts to conceal her eyes. But her voice? She honestly doubted she could change it, even if she tried giving herself an accent.

"Um. . .yeah, we all do. I can do. . .well I don't really know what I can do. It's like magic almost."

Skylar actually laughed, the sound ringing out through her cell, floating into Kennedy's. The girl looked shocked again but that time she did not notice. She just kept laughing, unaware of how it sounded to her friend. "Magic? Are you serious? Now that's rich." When she heard no answer, she looked back over at her, opening her eyes to find that the girl was just staring at her. She didn't have to ask to know. Even her laugh was different. It sounded too soft, too graceful to be hers, and yet it was.

"What did they do to you?" Kennedy finally asked.

Skylar could only think of one answer though her brain supplied many. For some reason, her brain was creating answers that would only bring more questions. Her brain was thinking in a way that she never had in her entire life. All of the answers she thought of would keep the person interested, keep them listening to her. She felt like a completely different person and she supposed she was.

They merged her DNA with a fox. A fucking fox. They messed with her head, heightened her senses, and her strength it appeared, perhaps even her agility and speed. They modified the way her brain worked and processed different situations, words, and actions. They changed her instincts to better match those of an animal, one whose brain was not complex enough to do or think the things humans do. They altered her voice to lure people into a trap. Though her eyes were an unintended consequence, they still served the purpose of making her seem. . .beautiful. Strange made her into his experiment, his creation. And even though she hated him for it, a part of her, one that must be a result of the fox DNA, was grateful.

"Something amazing," Skylar answered as a genuine smile reached her face.

———

Before any of you freak out and say that Skylar's reaction should not be positive, hear me out first. She's gone her entire life feeling weak and useless. She's had so many ups and downs and though she was becoming stronger as a person and allowing herself to open up more to people she cared about, after Bruce broke things off with her, she was right back in that state of feeling useless.

Strange took advantage of that. He experimented on her because he knew she would be happy with what he did. Now, in her head, she's stronger, she's powerful, and that's something she's always wanted. However, that is not a lesson I want to spread. Just because someone is human, doesn't mean they are weak. Skylar will come to realize that her newfound abilities are not all that great and she will go down a road of balancing and dealing with her abilities, while also going through things she dealt with when she was fully human.

This is just the beginning of a new development arc for Skylar.

I hope you guys have a great day/night and don't forget to vote on this chapter, comment your thoughts, and follow me for updates!

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