They were looking down at the screens of their hi-tech tablets (that’s what they appeared to be, at least) when she went walking by. Adjusting their sunglasses, one of them checked the data on his screen, then called out to her.
“Amanda Winchester?”
She stopped turned around and looked at them. They were clearly not students, the pair of them dressed in black suits and shades – it screamed government, which made her sigh.
“Let me guess – Dad sent you to fetch me?” she adjusted the weight of the backpack on her shoulder and looked at them, clearly annoyed by this imagined transgression. Ignoring the question, the same man spoke up.
“You’ll need to come with us.”
“Seriously?” she sighed, rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath; something about lecturing her Dad when she saw him.
“Ok. Whatever. Take me to him.”
Still under the assumption that her father had sent them, she fell into step behind them, and got into their black unmarked car. The passenger door had been opened for her, so that’s where she sat. The man who’d been speaking took a seat in the driver’s side, while the other man took position in the back seat behind her. She had a hand clutched tightly on her purse – just in case something happened.
They had just driven out of town, in the opposite direction of the airport when Mandy started to question them. Before she could utter a word, however, the man that was sitting behind her pressed something against her neck, and before she knew it, she was asleep.
When she came to, she didn’t know where she was. She couldn’t see anything, and couldn’t move. There were voices heading towards her, so she lay still and calmed her breathing, trying to make it appear as though she were still passed out. A door opened, and a light flicked on overhead.
“…deviant project. We’re hoping to discover what triggers the birth of one of the so-called Mages. This one here has shown potential – all that remains now is to push her until she goes over that edge. Of course, it will be our job to Enlighten her, should that happen.”
“Won’t she be missed?”
“It’s likely, which is why we are going to deploy IXHM-05. We’ve already crafted a bio-shell for it in her image – now we just need to download the information from her.”
“How do we accomplish that?”
“It’s simple, really. We pull the information from her mind directly, preferably while she’s asleep. IXHM-05 will know everything she does, and no one will be the wiser.”
“Brilliant. Proceed.”
Mandy stayed still. Were they talking about her? They had to be. She could hear movement, and after what felt like several very long minutes, something was poking her in the head. Chancing a peek, she opened an eye partway. From what she could see, it looked like a halo brace. What on earth were they going to do?
She didn’t have to wait long to find out. Inside her head it felt like an intense pressure was building up. Visually, her brain attributed it as a fog, and through that fog she could hear voices pulling for information. A lot she ended up giving freely – that was before she tried exerting her stubborn side to give false information. It was the only thing she could think of to let anyone know something was wrong.
So she withheld whatever she knew about the supernatural world, without forgetting people themselves. She conveniently ‘forgot’ everything about her Dad’s real profession. She falsely gave the information that she called her father Dad, and her best friend Mikey. The last thing she was able to muster enough strength to do, was the information that she didn’t like fries.
When they were satisfied, the voices went away, and the fog rolled back. Mandy could feel tears forming, and she tried to hold them back. She was scared – scared of what might happen to her, and scared of what her doppelganger might do to those she cared about. she bit her lower lip when her brain went into anxious you’re-gonna-think-all-the-bad-things mode. The thought that hurt worst was that her Dad would be disappointed, maybe even angry with her for thinking he’d sent people for her.
When she heard the door open and close again, she waited to see if there was any movement. When she heard none, she opened her eyes to gauge her surroundings. It appeared as though she were in a medical office. She tried turning her head, only to remember it was stuck in a halo brace – so she couldn’t see much. No one came in for a while, and try as though she might, she couldn’t wriggle free of the restraints keeping her strapped into what felt like a dentist’s chair.
Her mind turned against her, filling it with dozens upon dozens of scenes witnessed in movies or tv shows. She was quite well into this when someone came back. When she heard the door open, she closed her eyes again, and listened. Someone came and placed electrodes on her head. Whoever it was was whistling while they placed the electrodes – head, hands, feet and chest.
This same individual was a skeeze, letting his (or her) hands wander as they pleased. It was most definitely unwanted attention. Thankfully the extra attention didn’t go anywhere else. The whistling continued until he (or she) was finished with the electrodes, and then her mouth was pried open, and something placed in – she was forced to swallow the liquid. After a moment she could feel breath on her ear.
“Sweet dreams, princess.” was followed by a chuckle, and soon he (or she) left. She was about to question what the words meant, when she started to feel sleepy. It wasn’t long before she drifted off. She dreampt dreams that were scary realistic, putting her in myriad situations of varying content – anything from rated G to R, and even NC-17 once or twice. In each scenario, she tried to find out if it was real or not by pinching herself.- She found that in each one, her feelings were somewhat dulled – so the pinches didn’t hurt like they should have.
It was hard to tell how long this went on for – all she knew was that she felt exhausted in all ways – mentally, physically, secually – even spiritually. She was ready to give up and give in completely, when she was rescued. Jasper took away the halo brace and electrode wires, scooped her up and…and what, exactly? Transported her home, somehow.
Home. Safety.
She needed her Dad; wanted her Daddy to hold her and comfort her and tell her everything would be ok. She’d believe that.