This is my entry for Plain Mike's writing challenge. This is part of a short story I came up with based on the picture that was provided to us from a very talent artist here on Steemit. I am getting used to writing again and did this for fun. Hope you enjoy it.

*This is the picture that was meant to inspire us. Provided by @svdsdragunov
Original Source

Freedom Seeker (working title)

"I guess I am starting to look like myself again a little bit." Raven said as she slowly gazed over her metal arms and fingers. She noticed how hard and shiny the metal looked. How her fingers looked like fingers but more cold, hard, and less human.

"This will take a bit of time. We kept as much as we could, but your disease was very persistent. We were able to keep some vital things like your Brain, your heart, your eyes, and a few more things. Other things we have had to substitute, but you will get used them." Simon said, calmly, as he moved the clipboard he was holding from in front of him to his side.

"How much longer will this take? Until I feel almost completely like myself again? When I can finally get out of here and go back into the world without looking like this, but instead looking...normal?" She asked.

"Well Raven, this process takes time. We are working on perfecting all the organic material to make the skin grafts and we will go from there. It will take at least 10 to 20 layers or so for it to be as human looking and feeling as possible. We have worked all the necessary receptors into the skin so you will be able to use all your senses that you are accustomed too before all this happened. It will be a learning curve, but you will get used to it. The important thing is that you are alive." Simon continued to talk more about all the parts of her body, but she lost interest after a while. She just wanted the proper answer, not all details. All she has heard it details for weeks and weeks, she just wants to feel normal again.

"So how long?" Raven asked again.

"A few weeks. Like I said, it takes time." Simon looked right at her. His eyes were soft, but serious.

She breathes out audibly "Fine."

"Is there anything else you want to know about your body or the process at the moment?" His gaze flitters back down to the clipboard he was holding as he starts to half turn towards the door he came in.

"No. Honestly I'm just a bit tired. I think I would just like some quiet time. I think I'm going to go back and plug in for a while so I can relax."

"Sure. That's the best idea now anyways, we have to continue to feed the machinary until everything is fully complete and it can regenerate and sustain itself. I will tell the others to let you be for a bit." He then walked out of the room, leaving the door slightly ajar.

As Raven slowly walks back to her room she passes by only a handful of other people. All experiemental scientists and medical technicians. All here to be on the ground floor of a "first in our lifetime" event. All here, for her.

She missed the outside. The sun, the wind, the smell of grass. Now she was stuck down in this secret contained building 5 miles below the surface of some extremely small town in the state of Missouri, that she has never even heard of. When she got admitted it was life or death. She was suffering from a rare disease that was causing her body to eat itself from the inside out. It started with her starting to look a bit gaunt because the body was eating its muscle tissues. Then it moved on to her organs and rapidly worsened. She sought the best help all over the world and no one could aid her, they didn't even understand fully what was going on. Until one day, Mr. Simon Terrera visited her on what she thought would end up being her death bed, and made her an offer.

He held out a tiny little hope, a little possiblitily of living that up until now no one had been able to give her. Something extremely secret and experimental, but a straw of hope that she had to take. Once she agreed, in an instant it seemed, a team of 15 others came and whisked her out of there. By her estimate it has been 6 months since that point, and now she was just getting a little impatient. She feels better than before, better than she thinks she ever did. But now, now she just wants to go back up to the world, back up to the sun, the wind, the grass, and start her life anew.

Three weeks and 4 days later

"Here you go Raven. Right through here." He sounded almost as cheerful as she did. Simon looked calm, and excited, but that didn't fully meet his eyes. His eyes betrayed him, they showed a tiny bit of worry.

"Finally. I can't wait." Raven however, was excited. She showed it throughout the way she stood, how her foot tapped a little bit back and forth on the elevator floor. It was her day. She was finally going back to the world. Gone were the days of sitting in a brightly lit, but still dark feeling, underground world.

A slight ding made a sound in the background, bringing her out of her thoughts. The doors of the elevator slid open. Simon stepped out in front of her, she followed just behind him. They walked out into a bright foyer. It was so bright she had to squint until her eyes adjusted. The ceiling was high, almost cathedral like, and the walls were a white texturized shiny tile from floor to ceiling, about 200 feet infront of her were huge windows that began at the floor and went up at least 15 feet high. They looked out to a vast green landscape with not around to see except green meadows with lots of tall, established green trees. She smiled. As they walked through the building Simon spoke.

"Here we are. See the door to the left?" He asked her. She nodded.

"That door will take you out to the parking lot. There will be a car waiting for you right by the door. The driver will take you into the nearest large city. We have already arranged a place for you to live, it's fully decorated, stocked with food, and there will be a car waiting for you at your new place as well. The driver will also be giving you a good sum of money so that you can get on your feet again. No one outside of this compound know what went on here, or how you are different." He looked at her. That worry breaking out more on his face.

"Raven...There is one more thing I must tell you. Things are a bit different than you remember, just a little bit. You will see what I mean. Just know that you are cured and that you and the people here are the only ones who know who and what you are." He gave her a little pat on the shoulder. "Have a good life now, you deserve it." After he said that he turned around the way he came. Not even giving her another glance.

She barely registered what he said as she was just too excited to be free. To be back in the world again. She walked to the door he had told her to and open it. There waiting was a Black sedan, idling. As she got closer she heard the door unlock from the inside, she opened it and got in the back. No luggage, no possesions. It was just her, her new body, and a hope for a new life.

Thanks for reading!