You awoke with a gasp, struggling for a moment to catch your breath.

The plastic container was gone, the smooth wood beneath you a pleasant if still disorientating change. Yellow hued lamplight lit the room. It was evening.

She sat half turned away from you. Her hair was in a ponytail, her attention fixed on an open laptop that spilled blue light across her slender fingertips. One leg was tucked beneath her, the sole of her white sneaker stained a pale grey from wear.

You wanted to scream, you wanted to run, you fought against it.

It was hard, every fibre of your body quivered with fear but you pushed against it. Whatever that controller did, you didn’t want her to use it again. You didn’t want to go back into the black.

Your neck felt like it had been broken, snapping under the weight of your head. You head itself was a swollen mess, your brain filled with wool split only by bursts of pain.

You remembered the feeling of metal and gingerly raised your hands above your ears.

A sob escaped your lips as your hands closed around cold steel bars, your fingers racing along them to where they had been fused for your skull.

‘Oh god no, no,’ you could help but cry aloud as you explored the metal cage that squatted upon your skull. You tugged at it, releasing a sharp jolt of agony that sent the room spinning.

‘Ok, so there’s still a lot to get used to but we’ll go slow.’

She didn’t even look at you as she spoke.

‘I’ve turned the suppressors off for now. It says to use them sporadically to prevent dependency, neural breakdown. It seems that you’re doing fine without them anyway.’

Your face was wet, your eyes and cheeks puffy. Sadness held your heart like a physical grip, squeezing with every beat.

‘What, what have you done to me?’

She seemed surprised that you addressed her directly, a momentary flicker that zipped across her features before she returned a warm smile. She made a note on her laptop before answering.

‘Nothing sweetie. I didn’t do the installation, we are just going through the setup. Sorry its taking so long.’

She chuckled, ‘Why am I apologising to you? Sorry, its going to take some getting used to. Oh man, I did it again. Ok, come here.’

Her palm moved to the table, flattening into a platform. It was clear she wanted to you step onto it.

Something twitched in her eyebrow as you failed to move.

‘I said come here. I haven’t turned suppression on, you need to walk consciously little guy. Can you hear me?’

She glanced at her laptop before returning her attention to you. Some of the warmth was missing from her eyes, ‘Do I need to reset you?’

You moved as though physically struck, scuttling forwards. You delayed only a second, the surrealism of being asked to climb onto a giant woman’s hand feeling like a wall you needed to get past.

Your fear of her had developed. Before it was physical, her size and the space she filled creating a primal terror. Now that fear was joined by fear of consequence, of her power. You feared what she would do to you if you angered her.

She moved the second her flesh was beneath you, her hand coiling and shaping to enclose you in her fingers. The air was punched out of you by her grip, G-force dragging at you as she brought you to her face.

Her cute features, those sensual lips and diamond eyes, the cute nose and the curly of dark brown hair that had tugged free to twist beside her left eye; at such vast size they caused only a welling surge of horror to overcome you.

She shushed you as you began to scream again, the twitch of those brows forcing compliance.

‘Ok, so everything looks about right. They’ve done a good job on the Link, the pain should fade a little in time but I’m not 100%. Exo looks good, Webbing looks good. We’ll try that first. Ready?’

Before you could answer you were already moving. Her fingers manipulated your body as her other hand came into play. She enclosed your right arm between her thumb and forefinger, her two digits completely swallowing it. Her fingernails were painted a now familiar sky blue.

‘Ready, ok, lets see if the Web works.’

She pulled.

You released a howl like nothing you had ever heard before.

The crunch of breaking bone, the searing white hot agony ripping through your body, the scream that almost made your lungs burst. All of this juxtaposed the cold indifference in her eyes as she went to work.

Your broken arm was twisted back and forth, deliberate movements designed to inflict more pain.

The bones inside shattered, she rolled your arm between her thumb and forefinger, twisting it back behind your head smashing through the shoulder in the process.

Without warning, she released her grip on your body, dangling you by your ruined arm. She swished you back and forth, barely a smirk on her face as you flailed and screamed.

Her eyes tracked you as she lifted you higher, above her head, into the heavens.

With a flick of her wrist she released you, letting you spin like a fleshy seed plummeting towards the wooden floor.

From nowhere, her other hand caught you, punching the air from your lungs.

You were lifted back to her face.

‘That hurt, huh?’

The question was rhetorical, your only response a smattering of sobs and groans.

She was already probing you again with her fingers, moving you to better see the ruin she had inflicted on your arm.

The definition was completely gone, the bones of your arm and shoulder turned to splinters. You couldn’t think beyond the pain to question the lack of blood, the lack of tears in your flesh. Your arm was limp, lifeless and dead. It looked like a stepped on worm.

‘Ok, so the Exo is clearly working otherwise it would have come off. No blood too which is good. I don’t want blood every time.’

She typed something on the laptop with her free hand.

‘Now for the important bit, lets see if the Web is going to work.’

Without warning, she flicked you towards the table.

Once again you were sent screaming through the air, your worm arm flapping uselessly by your side. This time the landing was less soft, bones cracking as you hit the wooden table.

You lay as a smear of agony, your hip and legs freshly broken.

Her shadow passed over you, the controller taking your place in her grip.

She observed you for a second, prodding your broken leg; indifferent to the squeals and shrieks as she broke your ankle and shattered your knee.

‘Ok,’ was all she said before pushing the button.

Your body shuddered and convulsed as though an electrical currant ran through it. The room flashed white, your tongue swelling in your mouth, your teeth chattering. Every limb twitched, your muscles moving as though turned to snakes. A whirring sound in your ears became a drone that grew louder and louder until it was all you could hear.

You quivered on the table top, blinded by light and deafened by sound. You couldn’t respond, couldn’t think.

You knew you were going to die.

The sensation stopped, as quickly as someone switching off a light.

You sucked in air like someone saved from drowning, pushing yourself onto your side and curling your legs up beneath you. The foetal position was instinctual.

‘Ah ah,’ she chided, her fingers already wrapping around your limbs to stretch you out, ‘lets have a look at you.’

Naked and afraid, you were helpless as her eyes roved over you. This was as impersonal as an inspection, she was reviewing the performance of a piece of equipment. She flipped you onto your back, inspecting your spine.

‘Amazing, that’s so cool,’ she sang, excitement and glee dripping from her as she released you.

You hugged your knees, only then realising that you were able to do so.

Your eyes widened as you took in your restored arm, your healed legs.

Aside from the scarring and those black wires, there was no sign of damage. How was this possible?

You couldn’t know how long you sat and stared at yourself. This was impossible.

Her voice drew you back, ‘OK, Webs working pretty good. Do you want to stay On while I put the results in? We’ll do a real test shortly.’

‘Please,’ you croaked, swallowing another swab of fear, ‘who are you, what is this? What have you done to me?’

‘Urgh,’ she flashed you a light scowl, ‘Sorry but I don’t want to do this right now. I’ll explain later.’

The controller in her hands, the transmitter pointed to you.

You could barely cry out a protest before her finger hit the button.

You blacked out.