Chapter Text
My head felt like someone had played pinball with my brain. Several rounds of pinball. Not that the rest of me felt much better. I cracked open my eyes and was immediately blinded by incredibly strong lights. I tried to shield myself but my arms were stuck. I groaned.
"Svartalfar …" I heard someone say.
Was that my name? No, it wasn't.
Why was someone calling me Svartalfar?
"Svartalfar, do not try to free yourself or I will be required to sedate you again." The voice continued.
"The lights," I mumbled. "Too bright."
My thoughts were slow and muddled. Like I was swimming through an ocean of molasses.
"They are a countermeasure against your power." The voice said. "I cannot remove them."
I was silent for a few minutes. The only noises in the background were the faint whirring of fans and the whine of servomotors. My headache receded somewhat.
"Sorry," I said, quietly, "big headache. Why can't I move?"
"Svartalfar. Do you remember the events prior to today?"
I shook my head. I didn't remember much. The headache didn't help.
"Went to sleep. Last thing I remember."
"I see …" There was a hint of sadness in the voice. "You are at the Baumann Parahuman Containment center. You were sentenced here following your trigger event."
"The … Birdcage?" I tried to open my eyes but the light was still incredibly bright. The only thing I got for my troubles was more headache.
"Yes."
"Dragon?"
"Yes. I am remotely operating the suit that escorted your transport here."
"Dragon is best girl," I giggled.
"It looks like the sedative is still affecting you a lot …" Dragon said. "The automated system will transfer you inside of a transport capsule. It will lower you down into the Birdcage. The life support system has exactly enough oxygen for a single trip. The tube itself is under a complete vacuum. Do you understand the implications?"
"No escape …" I said.
"Correct. I disagree with your sentencing but …" The woman paused. "My hands are tied."
"S'not … your fault," I slurred.
"I will proceed." I felt myself move in a smooth motion. "Prisoner 586, codename Svartalfar. PRT power designation Shaker 9, shadows or darkness, Brute 2. Recommended protocols of floodlights and high-strength restraints were carried out. Chance of escape following interment in the Baumann Parahuman Containment Center rests at a fairly steady .00063% with no gross deviations in any likely scenarios. Within acceptable limits."
My mind vaguely acknowledged the Shaker nine rating.
"I am sending you to cell block E. The woman that put herself in charge of that cell block goes by the codename Lustrum. She's a pretty extreme feminist and misandrist, but she protects the girls in her block, and it's also the block furthest from the hole the men opened into the women's half of the Birdcage. I expect the brute grade sedatives to mostly clear out by the time you reach the bottom but if they don't, Lustrum is the least likely to take advantage of the situation."
"It's the most I can do for you. Good luck."
"Bye Dragon," I said.
I heard the pod door seal with a hiss. A few seconds later, it dropped down and my stomach immediately took a trip up to my throat from the acceleration.
As I fell down towards hell the sedative slowly cleared and my mental faculties returned. Which allowed me to reflect on the last hour or so of my life. My memory between the last time I went to sleep in my bed and now was a jumbled mess. Flashes and impressions, not much more.
With the cloud on my thoughts lifted, the possibility of a dream was less and less certain.
This meant I had found myself with vastly more questions than answers.
Chief of which was: What the hell had happened to send me to the Birdcage?
Closely followed by: What are my powers then? Only parahumans go to the Birdcage after all.
The capsule-slash-elevator wasn't the best place to experiment. I didn't want to accidentally strand myself in a vacuum and suffocate after all.
So I waited.
And waited.
When the pod started to decelerate, I sighed in relief.
Finally, something.
A mist was sprayed inside the cabin and I felt the block of containment foam encasing me soften. Over several minutes, it progressively turned into a goop that slid off of me. With my arms finally free, I rubbed my eyes and ran my hand through my hair out of habit. My wrist bumped into my ear, an ear that was much longer than it should be.
I needed a mirror.
Out of nervousness, I bit my lips and felt that my teeth were strange as well. Sharp. I ran my tongue over them and discovered that all of them could only qualify as shark-like.
Before I could examine myself further, the pod stopped. The door opened and I felt my headache return from the bright lights. This time, however, I managed to shield my eyes.
"Too bright!" I complained.
"Step out," someone said, "the pods don't wait too long."
I grabbed the edge of the door with my other arm. My eyes were slowly acclimating to the ambient brightness and I managed to step out without issues. I kept my hand on the wall for balance. My legs felt awful after so much time stuck in the same position.
"She looks less scary than on TV groping around like that," another voice said.
I blinked a few times and looked around.
The place was a lot more colorful than I expected. I was in an hexagonal room two stories high. The plain white walls were covered in colorful art and blankets of various sizes. Three of the walls were covered in windows that looked down into the pseudo-courtyard. Maybe the individual rooms? A pair of stairs led to the second floor on each side.
Arrayed around me were several women. I recognized none of them, not that I expected to. They didn't look particularly friendly either. Though maybe it was just the prison look. My pristine – except for confoam stains – orange jumpsuit stood out among the wide variety of modified ones.
Of the five women, two were looking at me with suspicion. A redhead with a pixie cut and intricate dragon tattoos on both her exposed arms. The other was a brunette with shoulder length hair and thick rimmed glasses. A third one, with short brown hair, could only be qualified as … openly horny. I wasn't wearing much but she had already undressed me in her mind nonetheless.
At the center of the formation was a tall woman with short cropped black hair. Her gaze was laser focused on me. Judging me. To her right was a shorter blonde who looked bored out of her mind.
The silence extended for a few more seconds.
"I'm Lustrum," the tall and serious woman said. "In charge of block E. What I say here is law."
"No appeals?" I sassed.
"It's the cage, Charcoal." I raised my eyebrow at the nickname. "Nobody here gets an appeal."
"My name's Svartalfar, not Charcoal." I replied.
"Respect here is earned, Charcoal, not given," Lustrum said.
So some sort of hazing. Great. I really didn't want to deal with that. My head was still pounding and the only thing I wanted was a long nap.
Thankfully, I was out of the pod so I was free to use my powers. I wasn't exactly sure of what they were exactly but one had been whispering in my ears since I had woken up, singing its sweet song to me.
I pulled on it. It was so easy.
The shadows around our group deepened. They became a black so deep they seemed to be portals to an endless abyss. Mine grew tall alongside the wall, in defiance of all laws of physics, and took the shape of a beastly abomination. Claws and teeth aplenty.
"Maybe we got off the wrong foot," I said with a sharp smile. "I'm Svartalfar," I extended my hand, "but my friends call me Charcoal."
"Sheesh boss," the horny brunette said, "we get all the crazies." Somehow, she looked even more turned on after my little stunt.
"Welcome to block E Svartalfar," Lustrum took my hand. She squeezed my hand hard enough to crush it but I didn't budge. The shadows around us returned to normal and I saw everyone start to breathe again.
"You look like shit. Showers are this way," she tilted her head to her right. "Find yourself a cell, get a night's sleep in you. We'll talk tomorrow."
I gave her a quick nod and stepped towards the showers. The horny brunette tried to follow me but the redhead stopped her with a shake of her head.
The showers had lukewarm water at disappointing pressures but it was enough to rinse off the remainder of the confoam and dissolving agent from my hair and skin. Speaking of hair, it was long, silky smooth, almost unnaturally so, and a silver color that could only be described as liquid moonlight.
I took the time to examine myself in a nearby mirror while I dried myself. My skin was indeed close to the color of charcoal, a bit more on the dark gray side than pure black. My eyebrows had the same color as my hair and the carpet matched as well. On each side of my head were two long ears, about twenty centimeters, that tapered off to a point.
The most impressive were my eyes. The sclera were a pure black with small specks of white, like two gateways to outer space. On my right eye, the bright orange iris surrounded a vertically slitted pupil. On the left, seven smaller pupils were set against a deep red iris. Both were shifting patterns similar to a star's surface.
"Damn, I look so cool." I opened my mouth and poked at the shark-like teeth inside with my equally sharp nails. "Fucking creepy too." My tongue was not as strange but still extended a fair bit further than it should. Not something I wanted to advertise for … obvious reasons.
Back in my, mostly, clean jumpsuit, I walked towards the stairs closest to me. It was time to find a bed. I was tired as hell and I still felt like Alexandria had played basketball with my head. For all I knew it was the case. That and Dragon's sedative was the strong stuff.
The individual rooms had no doors but many had hung pieces of cloth to serve as curtains, to preserve what little privacy one could get in here. I found one that was free at the end of the first hallway. The walls were at awkward angles due to the hexagonal shape of the cell block but I wouldn't complain, it provided me with a bit of extra space.
I erected a flowing curtain of shadows in the entrance with a wave of my hand. My power happily told me it would hold even after I fell asleep. I gathered another blob of darkness to serve as a pillow, the material was surprisingly soft and supple when I wanted it to be, and went to sleep. It didn't take me all that long to drift off.