Chapter 6: A Mind of Wonders

~Third Person P.O.V~

Piper's body felt like it weighed a mountain, barely lucid she felt a great weight on her chest, struggling to breathe. An uncomfortable chill ran up her spine, then warmth, this continued back and forth all the while her ears rang, the pain coming over her in waves, interrupted by sudden jolts of electricity.

"One more should do it." a voice said, Piper couldn't quite understand how, but despite her barely lucid state she sensed an undeniable sureness in the voice. She found herself transfixed on it, the smoothness of the voice, every word rolling off the tongue sounding-

*BZZZZHHTT ZBZBBT ZZT!*

Suddenly Piper felt her body bathed in the glow of electricity, the shocks running the length of her body.

"Guaah!!" The sound escaped her lips, as she shot up suddenly, her breath quick, her heart pounding against her chest. She felt cold.

"Woah- Woah! Easy there.. easy..." Piper found herself staring face to face with the boy behind that voice. He spoke, his steely grey eyes radiating genius hiding behind a pair of goggles looking no older than 2 years more than her.

"W-what happened to me... where am I?" Piper asked, her palms pressing down onto the cold metal operating table she found herself on.

"Do you remember anything?" The boy asked, his eyes seemed to scan her, studying her, wanting to learn every detail.

Piper felt a throbbing pain as she tried to remember. Beatings. Pain. Blood. Piper clenched her eyelids, her eyes tightly shut."Just.. pain."

The boy sighed and took a moment to speak again. "You were... hurt pretty bad, out for a while" He said, lifting up his goggles and letting them rest on locks of his diamond blonde hair, his eyes now meeting hers. A definite look of sincere care reflected off the boy's eyes.

"But luckily I managed to save you." He said, a bright smile on his face.

Piper found her cheeks warm at the presence of the boy, she couldn't help but smile back.

"Now, how about we help you to your feet, hm miss..?" Her mystery savior said, putting a warm yet rough feeling hand on her back, a clear sign he works with his hands a lot.

"Piper... Piper Gerhart" Piper felt herself wince in pain with every subtle movement.

"Piper, huh?" The boy said, helping her to feet. Holding her hand tightly as she swung her legs off the table and stepped onto the cobblestone floor.

Piper dropped hard, her legs still shaky as she struggled to stand, nearly losing her balance, the boy kept her close to him, eating her balance.

"I like it" The boy said, smiling a confident smile as he helped her stand.

"I'm Ezra Castle" Ezra said, "Can you stand?" He asked her, careful to not let her drop.

"I- I think so" Piper said, and with those words Ezra slowly but surely allowed her to find her balance in her own time.

"There we go, easy does it Piper." Ezra said, letting go of her completely. His eyes trained on the girl before him, ensuring she doesn't lose balance.

"I think I can.. handle it from here" Piper said, her left hand lightly touching her bandaged forehead. Wincing in pain, she tried to focus on something else, that's when her eyes finally scanned the room.

She was surrounded by gadgets and gizmos. Mechanical tools, machines, parts, and schematics.

A white sheet covered something suspended above the lab floor, an adjustable step ladder was placed near it, several toolboxes housing things piper couldn't even recognize were scattered around. The sheet obscured what exactly it was from view, though from the size of it, Piper deduced it would be around the height of Ezra and thanks to what little of the device did manage to peek out from beneath the sheet she could see that it was still in the process of being assembled, exposed wires, open sockets. This device, whatever it was seemed to serve as the impromptu centerpiece of his laboratory, whether it was intentional or not.

The cobblestone walls were lined by caged wall lamps, bathing the room in an ornate glow though she noticed the overhead lights, switched off she figures that they could illuminate the entire room.

"Where are we?" Piper asked, in awe at the sight of the technological marvels surrounding the pair.

"Oh, this? You're in my workshop" Ezra said, having walked off, going through a trunk in one corner of the room.

"Workshop?" Piper raised a brow.

"Ah, here we go." Ezra said, finding a clean pair of clothes for Piper to wear. "Yeah, I'm... I like to tinker." He said smiling.

"I Invent, create, build, and innovate." Ezra shrugged "That's just my thing. Now, here put this on." Ezra said, tossing her the clothes and turning around to give her some privacy to change.

"Wait.. so you're saying. You built all this yourself?" Piper asked, as she dressed herself, small mechanical birds flying overhead.

Ezra turned around and smiled confidently, resting his hands in the pockets of his tattered jeans. "Every single piece, down to my goggles." Ezra said, lightly tapping the side of his goggles. " I mean, it's basically my life's work. No biggie" Ezra shrugged, jesting.

Piper laughed at his playful nonchalance, finding herself liking this boy more and more. "Wait, your goggles?"

"Yeah" Ezra began, taking them off and closing the short distance between them.

"Here, wanna try them on?" He said, holding them in his open palm, offering them to Piper.

Piper eyed the goggles in his hands, they didn't look like anything special. Black circles holding glass lenses, an adjustable strap behind. They seemed a wee bit bulkier than most other goggles she's seen, but that's about the sum difference.

Piper looked at Ezra, searching for any hint of ulterior motive, she found none. Returning his smile, taking them from Ezra, and trying them on.

"How do I look?"

"Beautiful" Ezra said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning on a workbench. His words causing a light pink to appear on Piper's cheeks.

"What do you see?"

Piper looked through the glass panes, her violet eyes seeing nothing out of the ordinary. "Nothing out of the ordinary, am I supposed to..?" She asked Ezra.

Ezra shook his head and with one hand, reaches for the side of her goggles. Almost seeming as if he was about to cup her cheek, she blushed a shade darker.

Ezra moved his fingers up and down the right side of the goggles, as he did so Piper's vision began to shift. The glass in the goggles seemed to change to a shade of blue, making it seem as though the world was bathed in moonlight. "How about now?"

Piper's mouth was agape as the goggles displayed a great number of values. "Yeah!"

Ezra felt a small laugh escape his lips, finding her amusement at the goggle's basic setting rather.. cute.

"Now how about you look at me?" Ezra said, catching Piper off guard.

"W-what do you mean?" Piper spoke, her normally steadfast and strong personality in little bits and pieces at the boy's undeniable charisma.

"Just trust me, you won't regret it." Ezra winked at her playfully.

Piper's eyes shifted to look at the boy, his light tan sleeveless utility jacket resting over a dark black shirt. His blue tattered jeans resting over his sneakers. Her eyes traveled up to his face, his hair, his smile. She blushed.

"See anything different?" Ezra asked, and only at that moment did Piper realize that the goggles had scanned him, displaying a number of statistics. To name a few, Age, 19 years old. Height 5'9. Notable feature: Body enhanced.

"Yeah, I do! It shows several values and some unfilled variables. I suppose those could be empty spaces, slots where new information can be filed once learned. It's probably linked to a central database somewhere." Piper said, lightly touching the side of the goggles, going through a number of different settings. "Its got several settings too, kinda like a swiss army knife of information"

"I- erhm. Well, yes actually. Wow, you learn quickly." Ezra said, impressed by how despite only waking up from critical condition Piper had already broken down the basics of his goggles, placing a hand in front of his crotch just in case she finds the X-ray setting.

Piper smiled a toothy grin as she took off the goggles, the blue tint slowly turning disappearing from the goggles as Piper handed them back to Ezra. "I'm a bit of a tinker myself"

"Hmn, really now?" Ezra said, lightly touching his chin in though. Seemingly having found his next big idea.

"How would you like becoming my.. protege, my apprentice?" Ezra asked Piper.

"Would I?!" Piper said, a wide toothy grin on her lips. Her excitement barely contained.

"Good, I'll teach you everything I know, and then some. Ezra smiled and placed his hands on the workbench behind him.

"Welcome to the Equilibrium."

"... The Equi- what?"