The Lab

The first thing Rikki registered was the smell. ​Gone was the stench of stale beer and alley rot. In its place was the sterile, metallic scent of ozone, burnt solder, and antiseptic. ​She tried to move, but her wrists met cold, unyielding resistance.

​Her eyes snapped open. She wasn't in the alley anymore. She was upright, strapped to a heavy, industrial chair in the center of a cavernous room. The space was vast and cold, illuminated by stark white LED strips that hummed overhead. It looked like a showroom for the apocalypse.

​Tables lined the walls, covered in disassembled firearms, half-built drones, and canisters of glowing fluids. Robotic arms hung from the ceiling, dormant and silent. In the corner, a massive 3D printer was rhythmically layering a dark, composite material, building the chassis of something that looked dangerously like a missile.

​This was his workshop.

​"Awake at last," a smooth, calm voice echoed through the room. ​Rikki jerked her head up.

​The Supplier stood ten feet away, his back to her. He was examining a long, silver rifle on a workbench. He turned slowly, the light catching the perfect, mirror-polish finish of his silver faceplate.

​He looked impeccable. A stark contrast to Rikki. She could see her reflection in his mask, a ragged, bruised woman in a dirty hoodie, hair matted with sweat, eyes bloodshot and terrified.

​"Where am I?" Rikki croaked. Her throat felt like sandpaper.

​"The heart of the operation," The Supplier said, walking toward her with a casual, confident stride. "Or the brain, if you prefer. I call it the Lab."

​Rikki pulled at the restraints. They were solid steel, bolted to the chair. "Let me go, you psycho."

​"Restrain yourself, Nightingale. You're still recovering from the reboot." He stopped a few feet from her, tilting his head.

​Rikki flinched at the memory. The alley. The gang member. The shame crashed over her again, making her stomach turn. "You did that. You made me pass out."

​"I did a lot more than that," The Supplier said softly. He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a slim, transparent tablet. He tapped the screen, and a holographic display projected into the air between them. It showed a 3D wireframe of a human nervous system, pulsing with silver light.

​"You've been wondering why you're falling apart, haven't you?" he asked. "Why the disciplined, moral super hero suddenly can't stop fucking? Why she's betraying the man she loves?"

​Rikki stared at the hologram. "You..."

​"The nanobots aren't just for healing or suits of armour, hero," he said, his voice dropping to a clinical, lecturing tone. "They are a direct interface with your limbic system. I can adjust your neurotransmitters like I'm tuning a radio."

​He swiped a finger across the tablet. On the hologram, the brain lit up in a violent shade of red.

​"Take that Frat boy, for example," The Supplier said, sounding amused. "You didn't want him. You found him repulsive. But all I had to do was lower your inhibition centers to zero and spike your dopamine. I turned off your judgment and turned on your impulses."

​Rikki felt sick. "You made me..."

​"And the car crash," he interrupted, stepping closer. "That was a fascinating test. I wanted to see if I could override a trauma response. I flooded your system with serotonin and oxytocin making it so that even a hero like you would have to run away."

​Rikki shook her head violently, tears stinging her eyes. "Stop it."

​The Supplier stepped up to her. He didn't touch her, but his reflection loomed over her.

​"You weren't just horny, Rikki you were hacked. I dialed up your libido until it drowned out your rationality. I made you burn for it. I made you desperate enough to grab a filthy criminal off the street and beg him for it."

​He leaned in, his silver mask inches from her face.

​"Your body is my property. Your pleasure is my command."

​He straightened up, sliding the tablet back into his pocket.

​"So, tell me," he asked, his voice dripping with arrogance. "How does it feel to know that your 'rock bottom' was just an experiment I was running for fun?”