The next few minutes went by in slow motion for Nora.

Large hands snaked around her biceps, pinning them behind her back. The hand over her mouth kept her scream muffled. With her wide eyes and position, she looked insane. The woman was writing on her clipboard, as if she had completely forgotten she existed. Nora kicked as she was dragged away, trying to grab someone - anyone's - attention. There were hundreds of people in these labs, all going about their work day, completely ignoring her. The people in the beds noticed her though, and their reactions made the tears that had welled up in her eyes begin to fall. They had gotten out of bed, standing up and letting the scientists do whatever they wanted to them. One of them, a young boy in his teens stared at her. His blue eyes almost grey looking, his body an empty shell. She angled her head, screaming into the hand until her throat was raw. The boy's features contorted into something akin to sorrow, maybe even pity before a scientist caught wind of their interaction. They pressed a button, the band around his wrist emitting some sort of pulse, crippling him. Nora's eyes widened again. Was she going to be like him?

Was she going to die here?

They reached the end of the hallway, ending up in a new, secluded from the rest of the lab. When the hand was removed from her mouth, she didn't have enough time to scream again as the arms around her biceps lifted her up and threw her down. Her head smacked against something metal, a clang sounding throughout the room. She let out a sob, her eyes screwing shut as she felt something clamp around her wrists. "Get off!" she screeched, trying to use her knees to kick off the people imprisoning her. They got ahold of them two, flattening them and locking them in place. When she opened her eyes again, the world swam. The hit to her head made her stomach nauseous and she knew that if she didn't keep her eyes open, she'd pass out.

The two men left the room and for what felt like forever, she was alone. The table they had secured her in was facing at a slanted position, so she could see what was around her. Well, she would if she could, but every time she moved her head she felt like it was going to fall off. Nora groaned, that sick feeling rising again. From what she could see, there were tables, full of surgical apparatus and more importantly, needles. That sick feeling surged, fresh tears falling down her cheeks. One of her largest phobias was needles, and from the looks of it, there were endless amounts of them to be used on her. Her head dropped, the tears now falling onto the cotton of her dress. Her gasps echoed in the room as she waited for what she thought would be the first day in a long, agonising life living as livestock progressing the future of science.

The door opened, two people emerging through. Nora looked up to see a man and a woman enter in scrubs. Her head lulled to both sides as she watched their movements. Her chest heaved up and down, sweat began to sheen on her skin as she felt her temperature pick up. They hadn't seemed to notice that she was awake so when they turned around, she closed her eyes.

The man sighed. "God, they had to be so barbaric, huh? Dragging her out like that, she's only fourteen."

The woman laughed snidely, making Nora want to sob again. "Please, at this age you're lucky she didn't scream for her daddy."

Nora resisted the urge to open her eyes. Her dad. Oh god, where was her dad? He was probably worried sick. God, she was so stupid letting him leave like that. It was so obvious he didn't want to leave her on her own, but she had thought his car was more important. Boy, was she dead wrong.

"Come on, Alex."

The girl, now Alex, ignored him. "Her dad's a cop, you know. Captain, actually."

"Then tell me they got rid of him. If he catches us we're gonna rot in prison."

I hope you do, Nora thought, her blood boiling.

Alex scoffed. "I hope so, Dr. Santiago has his ways."

That fucker, that sick fucker. Nora hoped her dad got his gun back and shot him right between the eyes. Thinking back on it, he was a textbook sociopath. He got to know her and then destroyed her life. She trusted him, and he abused it. She wanted to cry and scream in anger at her ability to be used so easily. She was stupid, so goddamn stupid.

The man spoke again. "So, what did he say she could do again?"

"She had healing abilities. Something to do with a charge in her blood, I wasn't entirely sure what he meant by that." Nora felt a gloved hand trail down her arm.

"I wonder how far they extend to?"

Goosebumps rose on her arm at the feather light touch. "I don't know, but I gonna find out." The girl circled a finger on her hands. "We should break her hands first, they would be the centre of her power." Nora heart hammered in her chest. Something in the back of her brain wanted her arm to reach up and strangle her but she couldn't. She was restrained. Her fists clenched at the touch, the tips of her fingers beginning to tingle.

"Ok, we should do it now though—"

"No, wait till she's awake." her body pulsed at that.

"Alex!"

"Shut up, she'll heal quicker."

"Alex—"

"Wait till she's awake." There was a pause. "That's an order from your superior." Another pause, possibly a stare off between them. "Now, go get me some propofol so I can wake her up quicker."

The door clicked closed and Alex's hand left her arm. Her whole body was tense, a weird feeling beginning to bubble up her arms. Nora opened one eye, Alex had her back to her so she let the other open as well. She tried to look down to see what was going on. Maybe Alex had given her something and that's why she was feeling weird. But no, the woman was just off to the side, humming to herself as if she hadn't just said she was willing to torture a teenage girl by breaking her hands while conscious.

Nora had to bite her lip as she felt something odd down by her wrists. Gazing down had her eyes go wide and her mouth open slightly. From the wrist down, her hands were completely black. Balled into a fist, she twisted the coal coloured appendages to make sure they were really hers. Sure enough, they were, but something else happened. As she twisted them, the metal bars securing her wrists began to rust. She watched in awe as the more she twisted the more the bars began to flake off and wither away. Sludge began to drip from where the metal was rusted away, landing on the floor with a loud slopping sound. Already, she was free. Nora lifted her arms slightly, clenching and unclenching her still ebony hands. A tar like oozed from her finger tips as she gazed upon them. She couldn't stop the intake of breath, alerting Alex of her consciousness. She dropped her hands back into their place, hopeful for her lack of spatial awareness.

"Oh, look who's finally awake." Alex spoke monotonously.

The first thing that came out of her mouth was, "Where's my father?"

Alex went to the counter for some gloves. "I don't know, last I heard Dr. Santiago was taking him out to the parking lot. That was ten minutes ago, so who knows, maybe he shot him like he always wanted to."

The way she said, so offhandedly, like it didn't matter, made her want to spit in her face. "You are monsters."

"Oh, you're so original. I've never heard that one before." Alex said, sarcasm laced venomously in her words. She placed the gloves on her hands, reaching for a needle. Nora's breath hitched, her body flinching. "Not a fan of needles, huh?"

As Alex prepped her things, Nora grit out. "I thought you wanted to break my hands first."

"So you were awake, were you? How much did you hear?"

"Enough to know that you're a fucking psychopath, Alex."

Nora stared the older woman dead in the eye, a braveness taking over her body all of sudden. Maybe it was because she knew she was free and Alex didn't. She wanted to laugh straight in her face, guess who was the stupid one now?

Alex snarled, getting close enough to Nora so that she could smell her coconut shampoo. "A fucking psychopath that controls your life, sweetheart. See this?" she pulled a large chunky band from her pocket, like the one Nora saw on the boy in the hall. "This goes on your neck, and then you're all mine. Ian gave you to me, and you should be sorry he did."

"I don't think I will be." Nora smirked, feeling that braveness surge again, and the tingling feeling rise in her fingertips.

"Well, frankly, I don't care. Now, stay still while I put this on, it's gonna hurt like hell."

Now was her time, her hand reached up, grabbing Alex by her chin. The woman cried out, her mouth shoved closed by the strength the girl had clutched her with. Nora pushed her face back, sinking her nails deep into her cheeks. The black substance seeped into her skin, travelling into the woman's veins. There was a moment where all that could be heard was the sound of metal clashing together before Alex let out the most blood curdling scream. Her face had began to break out in boils, large and puss filled boils covered her cheeks, sweat began to drip from her forehead and her skin was shrivelling up. Her eyes had clouded over as two inky black eyes stared back at her. She managed to get out of Nora's hold, before turning to the side and vomiting a sickly black substance.

She dropped to her hands and knees as Nora stood from the table. Alex let out loud gasps, still spitting out the black goo. Nora stalked towards her, eyes black and never ending, a deep abyss that made Alex want to scream and cry and struck fear down her spine like no one had ever done before. "Please, stop, I'm sorry."

Nora crouched down, staring at the woman. "My life in your hands?" Alex was speaking gibberish at this point. Between vomiting and crying she was inconsolable. Her hand went up to the woman's throat, the blackness taking it over. Alex let out a choked sound, trying to scrape the black sludge off her skin. Her skin began to burn, her muscles began to ache. She felt like she had an accelerated fever. She felt bile rise in her throat but with the pressure on her throat, she felt herself choking on it. A disgusting gurgling sound erupted from her throat before she slumped to the ground, gaunt and sickly looking. A diseased corpse surrounded in her own vomit.

Nora blinked at the scene in front of her. Rising from her position, she snapped out of it. Still ebony hands went to her mouth as she processed what she had done.  She had just killed someone, and quite brutally at that, but she couldn't help it. Her body was in this mode where she needed to protect herself. How she did it, was another story.

The door opened and the man from earlier appeared. Nora spun around, her face full of fear. He took one look at her, one look at the woman on the ground before dropping the pill bottle. There was nothing done between them for a moment before Nora said. "Please, just let me leave. I didn't mean for her to die, I swear."

He blinked a few times before his eyes settled on a button on the wall. "No!" She cried. He jogged over to it before slamming the button. A shrill alarm rattled her skull, but she composed herself, glaring at the man who was now backing up. Two guards burst in, looking to the man who pointed at her. Nora heart reached, making her step back, the backs of her knees colliding with the metal table. One of the guards pulled out what she thought was a taser, but upon further inspection was the band Alex had planned to place around her neck. "Please, get away!" the braveness she had felt earlier completely evaporated as the man came charging for her. The other guard pinned her arms back like before. This time, she was free to scream as the band was secured on her neck. Tears flowed down her cheeks once again as the guard held out a remote, pressing a button.

Energy crackled and Nora screamed in pain, her knees buckling under her. The guard holding her arms let her drop to the ground. Thankfully, her kneecaps didn't break from the force she dropped at. The other scientist grimaced as he watched the teen convulse on the ground, screaming and shouting in agony. Then, his eyes widened as she grew silent, her body shaking still. Her breath was heavy as she gazed up from her spot, hair in her eyes. Sweat beaded on her forehead. Even though the electricity still attacked her neck, she felt her body get up. Her hands made contact with the ground, the marble crumbling and eroding away. Slowly, despite the guards turning the setting up, Nora worked through the pain. The collar sparked, trying to cripple it's wearer.

The guard not holding the remote pulled out his gun. "She's not stopping Shaun!"

"We need to keep her in one piece, David, hold your fire."

He waited until Nora got too close for comfort. "Fuck it!" he shouted, emptying the magazine of bullets at her. He expected the young girl to be punctured, littered with holes, to crumple to the ground like a mannequin, but she didn't. When the bullets came near her, they deflected away, hitting a translucent force field surrounding her, glowing gold when the bullets tried to hit her. She lunged forward, raising a sludge filled fist and hitting the guard right in the chest. If he didn't know what a deflated lung felt like, he surely did now. Air left his lungs with a whoosh, leaving him gasping for air. This time, he was the one to crumple to the ground, gurgling on the blood now filling his lungs.

The other guard didn't have time to react as her fingers curled around the remote. It withered away in their grasp, turning to melted plastic. Her other hand came to his arm, squeezing tightly. The guard yelled as he felt his muscles decay, every muscle in fact, until he was practically jelly on the floor. Nora took one look at the scientist who just cowered. Instead of gong for him, she just glowered at him before running out the door.

He should be grateful for her mercy.

-

When the klaxon sounded, Nathan knew something was up.

Himself and Dr. Santiago were walking down one of the many hallways on the way to his car. They had been deadly silent, knowing that if they spoke it all would kick off. All he was worried about was getting to his car quick enough so he could get back to Nora. He trusted none of this, it all seemed too perfect.

All was quiet until the klaxon sounded throughout the area. Nathan stopped dead in his tracks, spinning around to see the building as the source of the alarm. He could tell something wasn't right. Dr. Santiago just kept on walking. "What was that?" he asked, quickly catching up with the doctor.

"Nothing really, just my cue."

"Cue?"

He didn't have time to ask again, as Dr. Santiago turned around, facing him, a pistol aimed at his chest. He wasn't surprised, in fact, he was half expecting it. "You bastard." he said, before his heart dropped. "What have you done to Nora?"

"I'm merely doing what I told her. I'm using her as a subject in my study."

Nathan watched the man with so much disgust, he didn't even know it was possible to hate a man so much. "If anyone lays a hand on her, I will make sure none of you see the sunlight ever again."

"You're making threats when a gun is pointed at you?"

"I'm a police captain you moron, I've been shot plenty of times." he clenched his fists. "What were you planning on doing to her?"

"Well, before I found out who she was, I was planning on using her as cattle. A subject I could use to see how the human body could achieve such greatness." Nathan had to take a breath to regain his self control. "And then, I figured it out."

"Yeah?"

"I did research into your little family and discovered her adoption papers. Turns out her mother was Elena Santiago. I couldn't believe it, I thought it was lying. I didn't know the child had survived

"What, you didn't know your daughter was still alive?"

Ian grimaced at that. "Oh no, not a daughter. A niece, my niece was still alive. I thought they had both died in the car accident."

"You—you knew Nora?" it made him sick to know that this man held her as a baby. Was probably there when she was only a few days old.

"I knew why her mother died too." Nathan tried to hide his interest in this, but he didn't do it very well. "It was my fault." he didn't respond, but had to step back as Ian began stalking towards him. "I had asked her, years beforehand, when I was starting at Oscorp and my life was happy, to help with a study of mine." the gun started to shake in his hand as he began to smile, an odd smile that curled too crookedly. "She was a woman of science too, you see, and I wasn't planning on doing anything to her. But I had hired a man who I should've seen was a madman. He tortured my sister, creating some sort of mutation inside her that allowed her to heal unnaturally."

Nathan watched the man tear up, but laugh at the same time. "She wanted nothing to do with me after that. Even when Nora was born. Nora's real dad was a marine who died two months before Elena died. She disappeared for days, and then I see that this police man adopts my niece when I should've been the one to take care of them?" He laughed, a grating sound that made Nathan want to punch him even more. "Well, I haven't really gotten over that."

"What happened your sister—"

"Shouldn't have happened! If I hadn't been so stupid. But now, I'm gonna make it right." he cocked the gun, aiming it directly at his heart. "I'm gonna take my niece back from you."

"Hey, asswipe!"

Ian turned around only to see a pair of car keys thrown directly at his face. Thrown off by that, Nathan took his chance and punched the man straight in the side of the head. Ian's head bounced off the concrete, knocking him out. Nathan took the gun from his hand and holstered it, gazing up to see Aliya and Rafe bolting it towards him. "Good throw, Lee!" Nathan called out.

"Twelve years of pitching baseball." His eldest daughter said breathlessly, coming to a stop at the unconscious scientist. Where's Nora?"

"Inside still, why did you come?"

"Rafe found an article."

"Look, dad." His son handed him his phone and the father began to read.

Investigation into death of Elena Santiago leads to her brother, Ian Santiago, sketchy experiments.

Beside him, Rafe kicked the unconscious body in the groin before turning to Nathan. "We've got to go in there and find her."

Nathan took out the gun again, nodding. "Behind me, do not leave my sight."

They didn't even need to move a step, for the door behind them busted open as someone came flying out, skidding on the floor and landing next to Ian. Nathan pointed the gun at the door but lowered it when Nora came charging through. Her whole body was a mixture of gold and black. Something was attached around her neck as she looked around herself. It took them a minute before they all locked eyes. "Daddy?" his daughter whispered.

His daughter. His.

Aliya ran for her sister, already in tears before picking her up in a hug. Rafe was the next to follow before Nora ran for Nathan, burying herself into him. "It's okay, monkey, I'm here."

"Please tell me I can go home." She whispered.

"Yeah, we can."

The two heard a gasp as Nathan looked up to see both his two eldest staring at the corridor Nora emerged from in horror. He walked toward them, peering in. His jaw dropped when he saw around ten or so men, half black goo, half human all over the floor. They had turned back to Nora, who didn't even move from her spot. "Nora?"

"I'd like to go home now."

-
not edited
A/N: this is over 3.5k words I am so tired I'm never doing that again.

Once again, wonky villain logic and a twist you all saw coming but idc I loved it.

Comment, vote & follow! - Emma