Sophie shrugged when he told her he'd thought she hit her head. It was a logical assumption for her word vomit. She gave him a real military style salute when he told her to stop talking. She'd wanted to, it just hadn't worked when her brain told her to stop talking. Her mouth just kept moving, it was like magic. Bad magic.

She followed the white haired wonder through the city easily. The venture was mostly uneventful, except when she was suddenly yanked behind trash containers. They watched as a group of wandering zombies passed in search of edible flesh, and Sophie was thankful that her kidnapper had that invisible, thing.

The blonde had to remind herself though that he wasn't protecting her because he actually liked her, but because he'd probably get in a lot of trouble if she died. Better that way anyway, she thought. Sophie was a loner, and really, she could take care of herself. Still, she followed him, just eager to get where they were going and sort out this misunderstanding.

She'd glanced at the cut on his face, and it was looking really, really, bad. She tried not to grimace, but surely the longer they took the less chance he stood at surviving that, even with some kind of miracle cure. Her eyes only averted when he opened a portal of his own. She'd given it an approving nod. Not bad for a dumb bracelet. Then his hand was on her shoulder and they were stepping through into a hall.

Oh good, there were doctors. That had to be a plus, showing up in a hospital. This was a hospital right? So after he was cured then they'd go find his employers? That was fine, it'd probably give Sophie a few days to think about what she'd say depending on the trinket she'd stolen or who they'd mistaken her for.

She only frowned when all eyes stopped on her. The lab coats were grabbing onto her arms and she became instantly confused. "I'm not infected," she'd tried to say, but they were leading her away. She glanced over her shoulder at the white haired wonder. Would he be okay? Perhaps this was just precaution. They'd make sure she wasn't infected, of course. It only made sense. A zombie outbreak would be an endemic in any world.

Sophie had been prepared to go willingly, stubborn as she was. "Let go," she'd snapped at one of them. "I'm capable of walking on my own." Yeesh. They'd entered a room and Sophie was instructed to put her belongings in a box, as well as her cloak. She did, only confused by their looks of surprise as they wondered why she was so compliant. One of the suits had returned with someone who Sophie could only assume to be someone of higher standing within whatever the white haired wonder worked for. His eyes twinkled with possibilities when he looked at her. He spoke with an authority that had the lab coats and suits making haste at his orders.

Everything after that would return to Sophie in blurred fragments. She recalled words like, 'experiments', 'testing', and something along the lines of figuring out how Sophie could traverse dimensions. A struggle and fight had ensued, and while two held Sophie down, another had injected something into her neck. The sting of the needle much less alarming than that of the speed of whatever sedative had kicked in.

Her vision had blurred as the suit with the menacing twinkle in his eyes sneered triumphantly down at her. The ensuing days were also blurs and fragments of this and that. She'd woken up once in a dark room with a single bright light shining over her. A lab coat on her right was drawing blood and one on her left was sticking round pads attached to wires to her chest and her temples.

Another time she'd woken alone in a dimly lit room. There were computer monitors around her and a giant mirror on the wall in front of her. She could only assume that it was a two way mirror. There were wires stuck to her here and there and thin hoses that disappeared into the skin of her forearms. She'd blinked a fog away and as she sat up, her head throbbed. She began pulling the pads from her skin and the needles and hoses from her veins leaving little dribbles of blood from the holes. She vaguely caught sight of a new tattoo on the opposite arm of the Innedae, a number she didn't focus on for now.

Computer monitors around her beeped and flashed and suddenly the lab coats were back. She was no match in her state for any of them, especially a group of them. Someone said something about upping the sedation dosage, and adding restraints, and then she felt that familiar prick in her neck before her limbs grew heavy and the room spun.

Sophie would also recall dream like conversations around her. Learning that the white haired wonder was actually called Ryan. She also learned that they were trying to use Sophie's DNA to create armies of compliant soldiers who could infiltrate other dimensions or open up portals in large numbers or large sizes to allow armies and equipment through, whichever was easiest or doable with Sophie's DNA. Of course, once they had it, they'd also have to learn how Sophie accessed and used it.

Since then, she'd been moved to a normal room, though hospital-like as it still was. They'd more than likely taken enough of her blood and DNA and whatever else they'd needed, and she'd spent the last couple of days under monitor. Soon they'd begin more testings, to figure out how Sophie used her special power. It had only been a day or so since they'd slowly lowered her sedation doses to keep her coherent. She still wore one of those damn collars, to keep her from just opening a portal and leaving. And only an hour or so ago, Sophie had fallen asleep.

Images flooded her mind of white lab coats smeared with spots of Sophie's blood hovering over her with needles and scalpels. She'd tried to protest but no matter how many times she opened her mouth, her voice wouldn't come. A harsh rasp in her throat choked her words off and she couldn't breathe. She was choking, and fighting and they were holding her down. The room was spinning and she tried to breathe but no air came. She was suffocating! Didn't they know!?

Sophie sat up in the bed quickly, gasping for air. She sucked in huge lung fulls of it. The room was dark, and she was alone. It was just a nightmare. Another nightmare. She reached up and rubbed her hands over her face and pushed blonde hair from her eyes. The Innedae on her right wrist took her back to the jungles of Arushba where she'd gotten the tattoo. A tribal leader had chosen an Innedae for her, because she too was beautiful, like the bird, and just as elusive and free.

She choked a laugh through a sob. She wasn't elusive enough. And now she wasn't free at all. A bird in a cage. Typically warm hazel brown eyes with golden flecks, dropped to the newest tattoo. Now dull, grey eyes, read the numbers again, for the hundredth time; '9763'. That's all she was here. A number. A room. An object, valuable enough for now, to keep alive. And then what? Her thoughts strayed to the white haired wonder they'd called Ryan. He'd known... all along, hadn't he?

Red rimmed eyes blinked heavily. The sedatives kept her so tired, and weak. She laid down again, but she wouldn't close her eyes. Sophie never willingly closed her eyes. If she did that, then the nightmares would come again. Sometimes, she even had nightmares about Ryan becoming a zombie in the hospital and she'd wake up to zombie doctors closing in on her, strapped to her bed. No, she wouldn't close her eyes. Her body trembled and she heard a noise at the door. They'd come for her again. Her heart raced, but there wasn't anything she could do. There never was.

She sat up again as the door opened, expecting a lab coat. But instead, Ryan materialized as his invisibility cloak faded around him. He was alive after all. Somehow Sophie felt a mix of relief, along with immense anger, and she opened her mouth, but he was shushing her. She frowned at him in silent anger, and confusion. Why was he even here? He removed the restraint that kept her from ever moving much farther than her bed, and was threatening to leave her behind.

Was he, saving her? Sophie blinked owlishly with those dull red rimmed eyes, and nodded. She slipped her legs off the side of the bed and stood. They felt like rubber, and her knees gave out for an instant, but Sophie caught herself. She was too stubborn and too determined not to overcome the tiny amount of sedation left in her system. She was grateful for the hospital gown's velcro that held the back together as they exited the room. She knew they were shielded from the eyes of passersby, but there was nothing more uncomfortable than being exposed in a strange place with strange people.

They traversed the maze of halls, and with each passing minute, Sophie grew weaker. It had been a very long time since she'd used the muscles of her legs, and here her veins still coursed with a light sedative. She was breathing more heavily than she should have been, and her heart fluttered and raced in her chest rapidly. She reached out and grasped Ryan's arm. She'd only meant to stop him from walking, but instead she'd ended up putting a great deal of her weight on him to hold herself up. She clutched at her chest with her other hand, and her body trembled again, possibly from the chill of the hospital, or the weakness in her muscles. Perhaps she was scared, unlike her.

Her stubborn, determined and strong facade was falling. She was very pale, and finally, "I can't," she breathed, shaking her head lightly. She didn't elaborate, not wanting to get them caught, but she was just so weak, so tired. She hadn't gotten any real sleep since before she was brought here, on top of everything else including but limited to no real meals, constant blood loss, pain of wires and minor surgeries and sedatives.