She'd been sure the henchmen would do worse than that to her, but they didn't. Just grumbled about "bitch" and "pain in the ass" before leaving her alone on the operating bed. At last, the door opens. A wiry man enters, dressed in a doctor's coat, holding an ipad. She feels as though she's seen him before. Was he in the sidelines during one of her mentee integration fights with the villains? "Hello, hello. Starflower, is it?" he says brightly, exchanging his leather gloves for latex ones, "Did they tell you what I do here?"

She shakes her head. He places a hand on her chest and she reacts immediately, shouting something unintelligible through her bit gag. "Hey, hey, relax, it's nothing like that. My hands aren't going lower than this," he catches her hips, "and no higher than this," he cups her neck. "Alright?" Hero attempts to use her powers, but her hands simply spark. The effort riles her further and she strains desperately against the leather bindings. "You see that clock above the door? See how it's ten minutes past the hour?" His gloved hand keeps her chin steady, "I have a schedule to follow, Starflower. If you don't work with me, the hour will be up and I'll have to send you through the door beneath the clock for further testing," He tilts her chin to see, a cold green door mounted into the wall, "Which means you'll see our facility here. Which means," he turns her back to face him, "I won't be able to let you leave. Is that what you want?" His vivid gray eyes get a hint of madness to them. With her fledgling powers at risk, Hero settles down. "I thought not. Now," he swabs her chest with disinfectant, "let's see what's hiding in that heroes' blood of yours, hm?"

He produces a needle attached to a long tube. Hero flinches when he presses it under her skin. The pain makes her bite down harder on the bit gag. "Hey now, don't break your teeth. Just ride out the pain," Villain says, "That's it, relax your body...there we go. Not so bad, is it?" He undoes the bit gag strap, but as he takes it off, Hero bites his palm. Villain jerks his hand away quickly. "Oh shit, didn't now you were into that."

Hero's glare could level a mall. "You deserve worse after kidnapping me." "Pfft, we kidnap all supers for a routine blood sample. It's standard procedure, Starflower." "You people are sick."

"Ah, don't try to flatter me," he smiles, "I'm not easily won over."

"Yeah, that's why you work for Supervillain."

"And you work for Superhero. I guess we both need to lick someone's boots, hm?" He settles at the computer, fingers playing over the keyboard as if he was a pianist in another life, "So, what brought on the name Starflower?" She struggles in her bindings, more to have something to do than to escape. "...it's my supe name?" "Yes, but usually the name has something to do with the power. What's your power? I saw your fingers sparking a moment ago." "I'm not telling you." "So that's an 'I don't know,' got it." Hero frowns. She did know what her powers were but this asshole wasn't going to use reverse psychology to get the answer from her.

But as he works, that cocksure grin on his face begins to shift.

"Listen, this is sincerely off the record--i really need to know what your power on file is."

"Why? You haven't seen my supe blood type before?"

"Bossman, honey? Need a hand in sector 4. Got a hawt broad trying to make off with more 'classified secrets.' Again." "Who let her in?" Supervillain asks. Villainness looks guilty but waves it away. "You gonna do something about it or am I on my own?" Rolling their eyes, Supervillain gives Villain a warning look, "Don't let her loose again. Not until I say she goes loose." "Yes, boss," Villain nods. Supervillain rests a hand on Villain's shoulder. As they head to the door, Villain speaks up, "About the breathing apparatus we mentioned, boss...?" Supervillain looks toward the tank, where Hero is now straining to keep her chin above water. "No, make her work for it. If she's too comfortable, she'll think of a way to escape." Once Supervillain is gone, Hero begins to struggle. It's to be expected, but Villain still feels annoyed she waited until Supervillain left. He doesn't want to unpack that just yet. As the doctor checks the tank scanners monitoring the various pressures, he notices Hero's wide eyes fixed on him. "Oh, don't look at me like that. You broke perimeters and damaged important equipment," Villain winces when his bandaged shoulder strains too much. "You're lucky Supervillain agreed to only put you in that thing." "I can't be in here." Her voice is way too stoic and deep, like she's trying to mask another emotion. Villain jots some notes on his clipboard. Their main function is make him appear occupied. "Should have thought of that when you had a comfortable mattress to sleep on. And only two wrist straps." "N-no, you don't understand, I can't be in water--" "You've been in there an hour. You're fine." Why does he keep talking? She's banking on it to weedle into his sympathy and get him to let her go. "Look--I didn't mean to, to hit your shoulder--"

The doctor barks a laugh, shaking his head in disbelief. The rich brat must be desperate to throw a half-hearted apology at him. He's offended she's already forgotten the 3,822 volts of electricity she blasted into his chest. The Doctor reaches into the water, pulling Hero up by the hair until her shackles don't let her go further. Water drips from her face. Deep down she hopes they disguise her panicked tears. "Listen, you darling, plasma-infected little shit, I can't do anything for you," he said, "This is the safest configuration of this tank. You're only in danger if you panic. So ride this out and if you actually behave, maybe Supervillain will agree to let you out." His grip on her hair loosens.

"No, no, no, don't let me go," Hero begs, limbs thrashing to keep her head in his palm, "I think--I think I got a concussion." "Already checked. You're fine. You might not have noticed, but one of my shoulders was recently imbedded with nature's version of a blank. I'm also the only doctor on site, so I really don't have time to babysit you," he mutters under his breath, "especially if one of Villainess' dates has gone pear-shaped again." His fingertips are barely holding her head. Villain takes a step back from the tank. "W-wait, but--but you need to ask questions, right?" she fumbles, her tone a quivering mess as water splashes against her neck. "Need to learn more about what--what meds I take?" He smirks, "I can learn that through the blood sample I took, Starflower," he leans against the tank edge, "That might give me more reliable results." A slight edge bites his tone. God, that terror in her eyes almost makes up for the smarting numbness in his chest. She's babbling something now, trying to negotiate even though she's godawful at it. Something about the water terrifies her. And while he really doesn't care, he also doesn't care to be bothered by it for another twelve hours. Villain leans against the edge of the tank. "Alright, we're going to solve this here and now. Hold your breath." Hero screams, begs, thrashes even. But Villain pulls her head underwater completely. It's not long, hardly more than ten seconds, but she's a mess when he lifts her back up. "Stop--s-stop, please--!" "No, no, you're doing great, Starflower. Just relax," He pulls her under again. This time she gulps a breath just before the water closes over her head. He keeps her down there until he feels the telltale twitch of panic, that jolt in the chest when the lungs are screaming for air. Villain draws her up. She drinks in oxygen with a shrieking sob. "Wh--why are you doing this?" "Because it makes no sense that something as basic as water completely debilitates you," Villain says. He tilts her head back so her eyes are submerged. "And I want to find out why." She's caught began defensive anger and abject terror, "You already said my--my powers don't work!" "And you said they do," he jerks her down abruptly but then lifts her up before the water can fill her mouth. "So who's in the wrong?" "Fuck you--" she says, convulsing with panic. "you villains are all--the fucking same--" "Is that your own opinion or is that another thing Superhero planted in your head?" He can feel the twitch in his pupils and sees her shrink in disgust. She must have seen it, the look. "Listen, I tried to be nice, Starflower," he supports under her neck, tilting her head a little closer, "But it's amazing how much three thousand volts to the chest can really piss a doctor off, y'know? And if Supervillain wants to keep you trapped underwater, well...then I guess I'm not done teaching you how to swim."

Hero can't even remember if he brought her through the green door today or yesterday. She has no concept of time because there are no windows in this place and no clocks hang beyond the green door. He's been humming the same 90's pop song for half that time, only interrupting the chorus to remark on where he's inserting the next needle, or reading back her vital signs. "What are all these tests for?" she asks finally, unsure if he'll even answer truthfully. "Hm? Oh, making sure you're stable. Status quo, if you will," he says. "And monitoring what status quo even looks in that hot mess of a blood type you have." He adjusts a dial under the screen. The image shifts to show an infrared scan of her body. Bright orange fills her body outline, but some spots show a deeper red. She shifts as far as she can in her bed to look. "What's the dark red?" "Pockets of stronger body heat. There's always some irregularities in the body heat, but yours are particularly uneven. And large. I think," he turns her one of her wrists under the straps, "it may have something to do with your sporadic powers." He spreads open her palm, testing her pulse. "That's strange...your hands are cold. Conceringly cold, even." "They've always been cold," she says, watching him work. When he looks up questioningly, she adds, "even before my powers started showing up, I mean. Doctors couldn't figure it out. I guess that's when I knew I was meant to be a supe." "Or anemic," he remarks, returning to the computer. "But any problem goes away with enough money, doesn't it?" "You think I'm rich?" He grins devilishly at her from his mobile desk, "No, I think your family is rich. You're not getting this kind of kid-glove treatment at your age unless mummy or daddy are paying those bills." Hero rolls her eyes. So what, he guessed that correctly. But he doesn't know who her family really is. And yes, she might be naive, but she's not stupid. Yet. "Okay, and so what?" she says, shrugging off the accusation. He gasps in mock intrigue, "A trust fund baby. How well do I know that type." "Fine, whatever. Everybody says trust fund kids are assholes, anyway, right?" "Well, I'd agree with that. But then, I'd have to be an asshole." Confused, she meets his eyes. The ghost of a wink answers her and his smile turns genuine. Something flutters in her stomach but she doesn't hold eye-contact long enough for the feeling to grow into a mistake. This ordeal is staring to annoy her. "Look, that medicine is just to wake up my dormant gene. I have powers, okay? They're just--" "Show me, then, Starflower." Tired, she turns away from him, but he moves his chair closer to the bed. "No, no, that's not to say you're lying. I want you to show me what you can do." She won't look at him until she feels his hand on hers again. "Not until you unstrap me." She hears him sigh, but whips her head towards him before he can speak. "I'm not a psycho, Doctor. I'm not a fucking lab rat, either. I've done everything you asked. I'm already gonna be chewed out by Superhero for getting kidnapped on my very first solo mission! She can't even bring herself to say it was a stupid, routine patrol. She hates herself enough as it is. "All I'm asking for is just the tiniest shred of humanity if you could just--" she has to get a grip. She can't cry. Not in front of a villain. Inhaling deeply, she says calmly, "If you're gonna make me your circus monkey, at least take off the leash so I can dance." An odd look passes over his face. Confusion, denial, rebuttal, even sadness? "That's an interesting choice of words..." he says finally. Hero frowns. What does he mean by that? Before she can ask, he presses a button under the gurney and both straps release her wrists. "Go wild," he says, sitting back in his seat. Gingerly, Hero sits up in her bed. It feels strange to use her powers without her suit on. Feels more like she's a test sample under a microscope. But it's just them, just Doctor. She doesn't have to do it for long. Closing her eyes, Hero spreads her fingers.

TW: Nonsexual nudity, drugging, medical abuse.