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She woke up with a suffocating sensation. Her lungs were lacking air, and the enclosed space she found herself in did not provide enough oxygen to satisfy her. Thus, her entire body ached in pain, her head throbbed, blurring her vision. She knew one thing, they had locked her up in a cage, and at least a dozen people were staring down at her from a balcony.
Turning on her back, she began exploring with her touch, trying to figure out her condition. Her hand brushed against her bare skin, noticing she had been stripped from her clothes, leaving her in underwear. She shivered at the thought of everyone watching her exposed body.
Running her fingers through the floor and walls, she came across a strange object that radiated heat at an extreme rate. She blinked several times, battling with her brain, asking to see clearly, just for a moment, what was that murderous machine. But the exhaustion was stronger, and Robin gave up, falling back into the floor.
Luck seemed on her side, even just a sliver of it, for when her skin parted from the metal object, it started heating up further. The woman hissed, feeling the temperature burn from the outside to her insides, destroying her system. She clutched her chest, trying to work on her breathing as if that would help her poor situation.
But with the higher temperature, the less oxygen there was available for her, destroyed by the heat, turning it into a deadly poison she inhales.
Her eyes started rolling to the back of her head, her brain unable to control those muscles, and many others that she was so used to not even think about them. Taking one final breath, taking in whatever came in the air, she accepted her fate, perishing in as a lab rat. But then, a gush of clear air filled her cage. Gathering strength from the last source of energy, Artemisia crawled on the floor, dragging her weak body closer to the oxygen canal.
She plopped down on her back, breathing in as much as she could, thanking whoever was out there for giving her a second chance. However, when the voice of her oxygen administrator reached her ears, she no longer wanted to thank them. "Heat exposure, phase one, has proven to be a failure. Moving on to phase two. Heat her up."
Such cold words boiled her blood, or perhaps it was the heat that resumed raining down on her. Fearing her skin would melt to the bones, Robin squirmed away from the machine, going as far as colliding with the metal bars that kept her locked in.
As it is obvious, the bars had been one of the first things to heat up, and it burnt her back, forcing her away from the extremes of the cage. She was scared for her life. Everything startled her overwhelmed body. So she just sat in her cage, arms wrapped around her legs and wishing for this nightmare to be over. But the heat and sweat were a reminder that this was all real. She just needed to wait until her skin blistered, and she passed out from the pain, then, hopefully, never wake up again.
Yet, that moment never came. Her skin remained intact, not a single mark of burns. She felt the temperature rise, but her body no longer was affected by it. Her homeostasis worked wonders, only that it was not natural, she figured that out eventually. And so did the people that studied her.
