I Feel Like a Monster

My chest expanded and the liquid in the tank around me filled every inch of the air pocketed tissue of my lungs. My eyes flew open and I thrashed around, fists finding the thick glass through the light blue blur. The only thing I could hear was water and my heart beating wildly in my chest. The panic started and my heartbeat became louder. For a moment everything was still until I opened my eyes again and threw my green fists against the glass, shattering it with little effort. My naked body collapsed onto the tile floor with the rush of liquid. I started to jump up to tear the nearest thing from its place in the floor when I saw the laboratory door fly open.
The man looked familiar, I had seen him in my dreams; I heard his voice which was muffled at first but then the words registered and I knew that I needed to follow the instructions.
“CALM DOWN! EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY!” he threw his arms out, “CONCENTRATE ON MY VOICE, CASSIDY! CALM—DOWN--”
The water had forced its way out of my lungs through my nose and my mouth and I was sucking in deep, scratchy gulps of air. The room shifted and I felt off centered and then I crashed to the tile. I started shivering from my wet skin against the air conditioned lab. I opened my eyes to see the man standing over me, ushering a blanket around me.
“How do you feel right now?”
I froze before my vocal chords created a small, raspy noise that was supposed to be the word ‘cold.’
“Can you speak?” he helped me upright.
“Cold.”
He sighed and wrapped the blanket tighter around my naked body, “Yes, this blanket is self-heated. It should start working soon,” he sat me down in a chair and sat next to me, typing things into the machine.
Almost instantly I could feel the heat engulfing me and the shivering slowed.
“Do you know my name?” he asked, straightening the glasses perched on his nose.
I dug through my brain, trying to think if I could ever remember hearing anything but the bubbles in the tank. I shook my head no.
“Could you hear anything in there?”
I shook my head again.
“Do you know your name?” he ran a hand through his dark hair, pulling out a clip board and scribbling on that.
“You—you said Cassidy earlier. Is that my name?” my voice was small and it almost hurt to speak.
He saw that I was strained to talk and got up, tossing the clip board onto a desk and helped me up. I felt faint; my stomach felt strange—I was hungry. I stumbled a little and I felt him catch me before the world went dark again.

“I thought this wasn’t supposed to be a thing for, like, another month, Bruce?” a male voice broke the haze of my consciousness.
“Ah, yeah—I’m not sure what happened with that. But she seems to be fully developed,” Bruce, the familiar voice answered.
I heard beeps and whirrs of machines around me. I had been equipped with oxygen and had a few IV needles in my arms. How did I know what all these things were? I must have shown signs of being awake because the men had stopped talking and when I opened my eyes Bruce was standing next to me.
“Good morning, sunshine,” the other man said. He had short and tousled brown hair and was wearing a very fancy suit.
I blinked a few times and looked at him and then to Bruce.
“This is Tony, Cassidy. He is a close friend of mine,” Bruce spoke quietly and pulled up a chair to sit next to my bed.
“Sir, your lunch with Miss Potts is in less than a half hour,” a small mechanical voice came from somewhere near Tony.
He pulled a device from his pocket and looked at it, “Oh! Thank you, Jarvis. What would I do without you?”
“Be late, sir.”
Bruce chuckled and shooed Tony, “Off you go, then.”
Tony said goodbye and left the room.
I watched as Bruce checked all of my monitors and took my temperature, checked out everything that needed to be checked.
“Well, you are one-hundred percent healthy, so that is good. I just really hope Nick doesn’t find out until--” he started muttering to himself, switching out one of my IV bags.
“Am I supposed to be alive?” the question forced its way out.
He looked at me, facial expression changing from concentrated to worried. His forehead wrinkled and his brows furrowed, “Of course you are.”
“Why did Tony say I was early? What am I?” I sat up a little straighter.
Bruce adjusted the pillows behind me and stood up, “Hang on, you should eat.”
He disappeared for a few minutes and came back with a tray of food and a giant cup of water. It smelled so good and I started shoving my face full of food while he sat back down.
“Cassidy, I created you.”
I paused and took a long drink of water, “Created?”
“Yes, with my own DNA.”
I continued eating, my brain attempting to make connections and to form thoughts. I felt like I knew what he was talking about but everything was still blurry. My head started to hurt and I pushed the empty food tray away from me.
“Are you alright?” Bruce asked, eyes flickering to my monitors. He seemed to be very worried about me; I could feel the paternal instinct radiating from him.
“Are you my father?” I asked, vocal chords starting to feel funny again.
He opened his mouth and then shut it again, looking away for a few long moments before looking back at me, “In a way, yes… Yes, I suppose I am.”