This event caught the attention of the Berton Institute, a research facility and school for rich kids toddler and up. They offered to take me in, to help me understand my new gift and find out more about it. My parents reluctantly agreed, as the offer came with a great school. The Institute wasn’t that bad, they taught me what I needed to learn, though they did take a lot of blood. It was boring, but it was normal. And then Danny Fogocci attacked the university, hoping to steal some valuable tech from the research lab. During the robbery, I got hurt and Danny saw my ability in action. He had found something worthwhile, me. He grabbed me and took me to his lair.
He, too, took copious amounts of my blood. I was to be his personal hospital. If he got shot, blood transfusion. Poisoned, blood transfusion. Stabbed, blood transfusion. Hell, if he got a cold, blood transfusion. He was using me, but he was not unkind. He treated me decently and gave me plenty to read. I couldn’t leave, but I wasn’t too unhappy.
His right hand man, Salvatore got greedy one morning and got Fogocci killed. Fogocci had kept me a secret, as I was valuable, but know Salvatore found out. Salvatore was not like Fogocci. He was a psychopath, a gun that fired in whatever direction you pointed it at. He did not want me for his hospital, he had darker ideas in store. Salvatore was always looking for new ways to cause pain, he got off on it and he now had someone who could survive anything.
He started with knives, his personal favorite. He pierced me every which way, with a myriad of blades. He cut me open and played with my insides, he watched as blood flowed from my slit throat, he aimed for the spine and watched me squirm, and he did much much more. I felt unheard of pain, pain that should’ve killed a man, but I never got that sweet, sweet end. Once he got bored with goring me, he started wailing with fists. Bones shattered and organs bled. I felt as my skull entered my brain, pain convulsing its way through me. After beating me senseless for a weak, electricity became his weapon of choice. He liked to see me shake as the current flowed through, singing everything. He once stated he loved the ways my eyes bulged out when the volts passed through my heart. If my body wasn’t smoking, he wasn’t happy. After lightning, came fire. He burned me alive, my skin melting off of me as fast as my body could heal it, pain became my life, every second of every day. I had no idea how long I was tortured, time just faded into pain.
The only thing that came out of that experience is that Salvatore had taught me what true pain was. Nothing could compare to that. Also now I knew how the body worked, what spots caused the most pain, which didn’t. Salvatore was about to start on acids, when I made my escape. Someone must’ve been attacking his base and I knew it was time. I broke my way out of my bonds and looked for the bastard. When I found him, I became a mad dog, a flurry of fists, nails, and teeth. He lay beneath my wrath, bloody and purple. I bit my hand and made my blood flow into him, he was not getting out of this that easily. Then I found his knife. I stabbed myself and then I slowly entered it into his flesh, his screams enacting my vengeance. As the blades came out, my blood sealed up the wounds. I don’t know how long my vengeance lasted, all I remember is some armed goons prying me off of him.
And that’s how I got to my next owner, another crime boss. He then ran out of money, so he sold me to some research institute who tested my capabilities. They tested me at extremes with more fire and now ice, breaking off parts of me only for them to grow back. Infighting and more financial troubles saw me change hands more that a dozen times. Finally, I ended up in some villain’s lair, once again, a personal bloodbank. BSH rushed in to apprehend said villain and I was rescued.
I had been away from my parents for five years and I had changed too much. I couldn’t be with them, live a normal life. I had seen and felt too much. Thankfully, the Institute gave me an opportunity to both learn and to master my ability. Here with other mutants, I have finally found a home, a place where I can be happy.“
