Blue eyes opened, adjusting to the dim light that illuminated the cold steel walls. Pain, the ache and burn of muscles overexerted, and overextended. The bite of cold steel.
Vector Sprint was lying in a holding cell, a one-meter square prison of cold, gray steel. He tried to move his arms, which were under him, behind his back. Resistance. The hard edge of shackles on his wrists dug into his flesh, his muscles crying out in protest. He looked around, finding the walls totally uniform, without even a window on the door. A single humming light hung in the middle of the cube, casting dim light into it. Vector attempted to get up, but found it difficult, as his ankles were bound in the same way.
"Cold. It’s cold. Where am I?" his mind raced. "Shackles… where…"
It all came back to him. The pain, the helplessness. Richter, cruelly laughing at screams of agony, the doctor, gathering joy from the anguished pleas for mercy.
"Now I remember. Richter’s horrible torture… He didn’t even ask me a single question. The @#%$. I’m useless now. I can’t help anyone. Richter will just keep this up until he kills me, or something else does."
Vector managed to sit up, leaning against the cold wall. He could feel a warm liquid in his hands; his bindings had managed to cut his flesh, and blood was now flowing freely out of the irritated wound.
"What is the purpose of my life? Am I doomed to a life of endless pain, and suffering? Am I meant to receive what I have saved so many from? Bah. Vec, get a hold of yourself. You’ve made it out of tighter jams than this. This is child’s play. You’ll only get out of here if you stop feeling sorry for yourself."
The sound of a large, heavy lock opening resounded though the small cell. The door opened, and there stood Richter, once again in the company of his armed escort.
"Well, well, Vector. You seem to have kept your sanity." Richter said. He smiled, the expression carrying a look of sadism with it. "Ready to have some more ‘fun’, Vector?"
Vector closed his eyes in silent surrender.
"Give up now, Vec. He might let you live then…"