Sunday- Jade

I groaned and rolled my head. Or tried to. I was tied down and once I realized that particular fact my eyes shot open and I started yelling. "Please stop yelling." A calm voice with an unidentifiable accent said to the right of me. I turned my head much as the straps would let me and I looked at a dark skinned man in his late thirties to early forties. He was bald and powerfully built, which I could see even through his lab coat. His eyes, they might have been of a brownish color but they didn't hold anything that I could recognize as empathy or barely even life. He wasn't dead inside, but completely uncaring. Heartless. I could tell I wasn't a person to him. A thing. A subject. Of all the people that I met in my life, this man still scared me and gave me nightmares for the rest of my life.

"My name is Doctor Gregoire Dhalimu. I am from Rwanda. I am in charge of research here. My fields of study are biotechnology and computers. I could be precise about it but I don't think you care for the minutiae of the details."

"I don't." I said, dredging up every ounce of acting skill that I had to put on a brave face. I'm pleased to say that my voice barely wavered. I started to check around the area, had to escape. But first, needed to plan. I was naked and strapped to table, with my arms tied down and larger thicker straps across my chest and legs. I was in a large room that had no decorations or anything in it, other than a large metal sink in the corner. What the fuck is this place? Reminds of the morgues on those CSI shows.

"We know that you can regenerate. Your friend Robbie informed us. I regret that we had to threaten his father, but it worked. He told us what you could do and brought you to us. I would advise that you not hate him for it, because I believe any one of your mutant friends would have done the same thing."

Not hate the little bastard? Fat chance of that. I don't care that they threatened his dad. He has superpowers! We all do! Could have done something instead of selling me out to doctor psycho over here.

"Regenerative types like yourself are incredibly rare, and one of your level is even rarer. The science behind your powers will save so many lives and improve humanity. I want you to know that. I am not some monster who tortures people for fun. Everything I do is for the betterment of society, and unlocking the knowledge for all to know. Science will reveal all the possible ways that humanity can improve. Yet for it do that, sacrifices must be made."

Great. Doctor Psycho has a cause. Even better. I heard a door open and the good doctor step away. A few minutes later he came back with a face mask on other surgical gear and he wasn't alone. Someone turned on the bright lights right above me, blinding me and making it difficult to focus. Wasn't going to stop me however, just a little bit of blood and I was going to make all of these sons of bitches regret fucking with me. There was a light pricking of my pinky finger and I moved it way from whatever was poking me. Gregoire sighed.

"I had hoped that the anesthetic would work, but as I feared it would not take with your physiology. No matter." He nodded to someone off to the side and fitted a horse bridle mouth guard thing into my mouth and tied it down to the table. They are so going to pay for that.

"Would not do for you to hurt yourself." Gregoire put his hand on my head and said "No matter how much it hurts, know that you are being sacrificed for the betterment of humanity. Every second that passes here, is another second that countless lives maybe saved because of you. All science requires sacrifice" He stood up and moved away from me.

Nice words. They might mean a little bit more if I had the fucking option of being here. Gregoire turned back to me with a scalpel. No. No. No. He wouldn't this is a dream this is bullshit what the fu-

He pressed the scalpel just under my breasts and in the middle and cut. Blood welled and I screamed.

Monday-Tori

I groaned and glanced at the alarm clock currently shrieking merrily away next to my head. A second later there was a loud crunch and the alarm clock stopped making any noise. Actually it stopped working at all because I had crushed the thing with my mind. I groaned again louder because this was the second time that I had done that. Going to be really awkward to explain to my parents about this. I wasn't even aware that I had wanted it to break. Just wanted it to stop making noise. Wish granted I guess. I didn't dawdle any longer though. If I wanted to shower and get to school on time I had to get in the bathroom before my sister did. I just managed to beat her there and lock the door and ignore her furious protests. I enjoyed the feeling of hot water on my skin and even better, no nightmares last night! I enjoyed a full night's rest and now a hot shower. It's the simple things in life that often make it all worthwhile.

I got out of the shower and brushed my teeth. I had to open the door to avoid Trina breaking the damn thing down. It was hilarious however because I opened the door and Trina fell in and landed on the floor. I stepped over her and waved goodbye as she said some rather unflattering things about me. Rude. That's sisters for you I guess. I had just gone back to my room and finished getting dressed when something clunked against the window. At first I thought a bird had hit it when I looked up and saw something else clunked against it. This time a little bit louder. I opened the window and looked down to see Rex, standing there in his eight foot tall crocodile-shark glory. I panicked and slammed the window shut and sprinted downstairs and out to the backyard.

"Rex!" I hissed. "What are you doing here?! I like you but the neighbors and my family probably won't!"

"I don't care about that right now. Jade's missing. She hasn't been home since Saturday morning."

That drew me up short. "What? She didn't tell you or anything?" Rex shook his head and looked worried. "Do you mind if I?" I asked and trailed off. Rex leaned forward enough that my hand could touch his forehead. I exhaled and flipped through his memories. Mind reading isn't an exact science. Most of the time I could only get surface thoughts or maybe the occasional memory. Things that aren't really hidden. But adding a little empathy sensing and concentration, and I could get a ton of information. Which was really crappy thing because I don't really like invading people's privacy like this. Or perhaps would like it if I didn't have to spend so much time concentrating and keeping everyone's thoughts out of my head. I felt his concern and underneath that his love for Jade. For the one woman who right off the bat treated him like a person. I was upset with myself about that, after Jade had introduced us to him that night, it had still taken us all awhile to warm up to him.

I looked through his memories and blushed a bright red at the sights of Jade moving beneath him, of him pinning her to the bed to her rather...vocal enjoyment. I coughed and moved past those to Rex's obvious amusement. I saw the last moment he saw her clearly, slightly fuzzy from him not opening his eye all of the way. "Don't worry about it. Just going for a walk." Nothing else was said that I needed to know. I took my hand off of his head and muttered to myself.

"Well? Did you see anything that I missed?" Rex asked. I didn't need mind reading or empathy to hear the hope in his voice. "I'm sorry. No I didn't. I'll ask at school. You go ask at the club and we will see if we can find her. Knowing her she just wandered off and forgot her phone or something."

Rex nodded and walked off quickly. Neither of us mentioned that while Jade could be that selfish, she wouldn't forget her phone and would eventually let someone know. I would check at school. She would show up. One thing about Jade is that she is reliable like clockwork. Didn't have to worry. I didn't. It was nothing. Right?

My mom was working from home today so I gave her a slight mental nudge and convinced me to let me borrow her car. I drove as quickly as I could to school and got there earlier than usual. I waited and waited as the parking lot started to fill up and students slowly filed into a place they probably didn't want to be on a Monday morning. I saw Beck and Andre walking in together, laughing about something. I cut them off with a "Have either of you seen or heard from Jade? Rex hasn't seen her since she left home Saturday morning." Both of them stopped and looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Did she ever do things like that?" Andre asked Beck. Beck shrugged. "She likes to go for walks to clear her head, but she always told someone and wasn't gone for very long. If she was she texted either me or Cat. Usually me."

"So she wouldn't just disappear like that?" I asked, starting to grow frantic.

Beck frowned. "Not since we started dating. After we broke up for the last time, I don't think so. But she wouldn't for her senior year. Be throwing all of her hard work out the window. She would die before she did that." He exaggerates. A little bit.

It wasn't like Jade didn't drop off the face the Earth every once in a while. She didn't talk to us every day. Heck I mean Andre and I are best friends and we don't talk every day. She's fine. We're over reacting. Cat hadn't seen her either. Every break in between classes Cat disappeared to see if she could find her. Each time Cat came back disappointed. During the day none of us focus and even Sikowitz started to look a little concerned as none of us were paying attention in his class. He let it slide after class was over when we told him that we hadn't heard from Jade at all since Saturday morning. I had taken to blowing up her phone with texts and calls and not getting anything back. If we didn't hear anything by Tuesday, I was going to file a missing persons report. I don't care how pissed off she would be by that. She's my friend. I had to do whatever I could to help her.

Tuesday-Cat

By Tuesday we were starting to become rather stressed out. I had raced across the whole of Los Angeles looking for anyone that might have seen her. I skipped school entirely to spend the day looking. We had talked to her dad and step-mom and neither of them had seen anything. No one had no idea how to contact her mom and it wasn't like she would voluntarily talk to her anyways. I walked around her neighborhood asking every person if they had seen Jade. No one had. Her dad had agreed to file a missing persons report. He wasn't the most attention-paying father out there but I'm pretty sure he did love his daughter. Well enough to start looking for her. He used his lawyer office place to print up hundreds of missing posters with Jade's face on them. He was putting them up around the area and passing them out to people. I wasn't looking forward to the newsies getting their hands on this story. We didn't really need that kind of crap. I spotted some movement and rushed forward to see it what was. My heart was racing when I turned the corner and scared this pale middle schooler.

"The fuck you want?" She snapped, trying to look tough. "Have you seen this person? Her name is Jade." I asked, showing her a picture of Jade on my phone.

"Maybe I have. Don't really remember. I might though if I had a little help." The smug little gank said. I grabbed the front of her shirt and ran forward just fast enough for to hit the wall and knock her all senselessly. She held her head and tried to catch her breath and I waited. "How about now? Do you remember? Or do you need some more help remembering?" I snapped. Not in the mood for this crap!

"No no. I'm good. I ain't seen her." I let her shirt go and dropped and started to crawl away.

"Stay in school! Or I'll find you!" I called to her retreating back. What? I wasn't lying. She should be in school on a Tuesday. I'm a senior and I've already passed all of my classes. Plus my bestest friend is missing. Way more important. I checked everywhere in the neighborhood and even ran into Rex. We both hadn't seen anything. Neither had anyone at the club. This is really bad. I didn't know what to do.

Jade where are you?!

Wednesday-Jade

I screamed again. I don't know if it was healing that let me keep on screaming, but whatever it was it worked. I screamed again and again as they made another cut on my back. I don't know what they were doing, but I was strapped down on my stomach as the made another cut that nicked my spine. I whimpered as they stopped cutting.

"Remarkable. I was wrong. It isn't healing. This is full blown regeneration. I can't believe it. I don't know of any regenerators in recent history. She might hold the secrets to curing countless degenerative diseases or even eternal youth!" Gregoire said. "Let her regenerate before we move onto more experiments. No one is to touch her."

"Yes doctor. With your permission I would like to run some baseline scans." A new voice said. I don't remember hearing this guy before. "Yes that's fine. Don't do to much, I don't want to risk losing our most valuable subject."

Murmuring in agreement I heard someone hurriedly walking away. "Stupid old man." New voice sneered. "Can't tell if something is healing or regeneration? Was so caught up in taking samples that he didn't pay any attention to you." I felt his hand softly caress my butt. No..please. Haven't they done enough? He gripped me hard and even ran his fingers down the crack. I tried to move away from him but the straps wouldn't let me. "You should be nice to me Subject twenty-one." He moved even closer to my vagina and I squirmed harder trying to get away. "If you're nice to me, I think I can try and be nice to you." His hand pulled away and I heard him sniffing and then inhaling.

"Fuck you." I snarled.

"What was that?" He snapped. As if he couldn't believe that I would defy him.

"I said fuck you you small dicked bitch. What? You can't get a date in the real world so you have to resort to sexually assaulting someone? I bet it's because you're a one-pump chump. Or maybe it's because every woman looks at you knows what a fucking creepy rat bastard you really are."

There was silence and then heavy breathing, as if he was trying to control himself. I heard the whining sound of something powering up. "You really should have been nice to me, we could have had some fun together. Now? Now you're going to pay for disrespecting me." Something struck my buttcheek and I screamed as thousands of volts of electricity tore through me.

Thursday-Tori

We were all extremely worried now. No one has heard anything in days. I stopped paying attention to school and even the principle wasn't giving us any pain about it. He has even helping with putting up missing person posters on the board. I hated looking at them. Every day they were a reminder that our friend was still missing. I turned at the sounds of someone thundering down the hallway and had to jump to the side to avoid being run over by Beck.

"Have you seen Robbie?" He asked me, panting for breath. "Robbie? Oh no he's gone missing to?" I asked, about to break out crying.

"No no. He just texted me I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't want to, but I had to." He showed me his phone, and that I'm sorry text was the first thing he had said after texting Beck on Monday that he was sick and staying home for a couple days. "We should go to his place. I'm worried. He'd never say anything like this." I mean...he's not wrong. We practically had to force him to apologize after he went nuts as a paparazzi. We walked past the bored looking cop who had started coming here on Tuesday after Jade's disappearance had hit the news.

He looked up from his phone and I waved my hand at him and said "We have permission to leave."

"You have permission to leave." He repeated dully.

"You're going to forget that you saw us and go on a patrol."

"I will forget that I saw you and go on a patrol." He put his phone away and walked away.

"Have I mentioned how scary it is that you can do that?" Beck asked as we rushed to his car.

"No. And I don't want to hear it. Already hear about it from Jade." I answered. If he thought my powers were scary, his driving wasn't any better. He cut corners and cut people off and took the speed limit as a suggestion rather than a law. I guess he was banking on me to handle any problems with the police which I could easily do but still! I grabbed the oh shit bar and closed my eyes as Beck ran a stop sign.

"You know that we need to get there alive to check up on him?" I asked as he drifted across another turn.

"I already have a friend missing, might be dead. Don't want another one."

I didn't say anything. He had a point. We reached Robbie's small house in record time. I cast my mind out carefully and easily found Robbie who is upset, scared and guilty. Guilty because….The car had barely come to a stop before I was out the car and sprinting up to his house. The door was blasted to pieces and I stormed in. Robbie stared at me with wide eyes and he looked at the portal he created which led to some beach.

"Oh no you don't." I snarled. I grabbed him with my mind and pinned him against the wall. "Well hey Robbie! How are you? Just thought that I would check up on you and see what you're feeling so guilty about!"

Robbie's dad came through the portal and jumped to help his son. Or at least he tried to, because a metal bar stool flew and clocked him in the legs and he dropped like a bunch of rocks. The metal twisted out of shape and wrapped themselves around Mr. Shapiro's legs and arms. He wasn't going anywhere.

So Robbie. Lets talk. He blanched and went wide eyed and stared at me. Yea. I'm in your head. Talking to you with telepathy. Neat trick huh? I think you should tell me why you feel guilty over Jade's disappearance!

"I can't! They'll hurt me! Hurt my dad!"

They? Who's they? Why didn't you say anything? We all have powers and the club. Could have done something!

"No. They're to strong! I didn't want to risk it. I saw Jade get hit by a speeding car. The kind of person that they would want. So I got her drunk and gave them a call. They were going to kill my dad!"

YOU COULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING I roared. I bet they told you not to say anything. Robbie jerked his head in a nodding fashion. Fine. Lucky for me, you don't have to. Don't resist. It'll hurt more if you do

I dove into his memories and watched as he practiced his portal making on his own, figuring out that he can jump distances if he enters the portal and opens it up some place else instead of just creating two nearby each other. I watched as he played street performer games like finding the rock and using his powers to cheat people out of their money. It was going great for him until people in suits came up to him and explained that they knew what he was doing. That they knew what he could. That they would kill him and his family if he didn't get them someone interesting. I watched as he walked in a stupor for a day or two until he saw Jade get hit by car. I was horrified as she went flying and I heard her bones snap as she tumbled away and then stood up like nothing even happened before calming the kid down and sending him on his way.

The drinking and the guilt. The horror at what he had to do. Crying as he made the call. Crying harder as they tased our friend and tossed her into the back of a van. The threats. Handing him a briefcase of money for his quick work. He left quickly, but it didn't matter. I knew what to look for. I withdrew from his mind and dropped him from the wall. He crumpled and sobbed. I felt….upset. I was furious with him but also so sad. He was stuck in a crappy situation that could have been avoided in so many ways! "Beck. Lets go. Nothing here anymore." I said quietly.

"I guess there isn't. Goodbye Robbie." Beck released Mr. Shapiro and I turned and looked back at Robbie. "I don't ever want to see you again." I told him.

"You won't." He promised. That would be the last time I saw Robbie for years.

When we got back to the car I sent over a mental link to Beck filling him in with everything that I saw. "I'll give Cat the pictures of the guys and see if we can talk to them. We'll find her. I promise."

His grip tightened on the steering wheel. "Yea. We will."

Friday- Cat

Sinjin was gone. Somehow managed to get his diploma and disappear. Principal Eikner was pissed and thought that we had something to do with it. Which we didn't. He left us a message in the group chat saying that some people in suits were after him because he had helped Robbie out a couple times. Said something about the Ricci family being upset with him. We tried to get him to say more or see if he had heard anything about Jade, but he hadn't and then his phone was disabled. I hope he got away. He was creepy but he didn't mean any harm by it. I think. Even as fast I am, by the time I got to his house he was already gone.

Tori had given me a mental picture of the guys we needed to find. I started in the neighborhood where Jade was taken. Even with my powers LA is huge. I didn't want to think about how long it was going to take to find them. I knew what I was going to do when I found them. Ask them very nicely where Jade was.

Hours passed and I was about ready to tear my hair out. Funny thing about my hair is that it's now a natural red velvet. Isn't that great? I don't know how that happened but no more buying hair dye or dealing with any of that and hey is that the guy that we're looking for? One of the burly guys that Tori had seen in Robbie's head. I zipped into the bar that he just came out of and the bartender proved to be incredibly uncooperative. Didn't matter. I knew it's the guy that I am looking for. Well, one of them. I stole a couple scarves from a couple hipsters walking by and wrapped them around my face and hair. Have to protect my secret identity you know?

I grabbed him at super-speed levels and raced up the side of the building while bracing him and then leaving him dangling off of the side. When time returned to it's normal slow slow people speed, he started to scream and freak out.

"Umm excuse me? Have you seen her? This is my friend and I really want to know where you took her." I asked showing him a picture of Jade.

"I don't know what you're talking about you psycho bitch!"

I frowned. Really? That's rude. I'm not a psycho! I really hate it when people call me crazy. I'm just different. I kicked his hands and watched him drop and waited a second for him to start screaming before running down and grabbing him and then bringing him back up to the top. I did this twice more until he started babbling and screaming that he'll talk. I sat down next to dangling burly man and waited.

"Okay okay. We got her in the morning and took her to a drop off point. I don't know anything other then that. We operate in cells and don't know anything about the other groups."

"Well who do you work for? Who's your boss?" I demanded.

"I work for Global Bioengineering Initiative."

"Sounds ominous when you say it like that."

Burly guy nodded. "I know. But the pay is awesome. I make more in a week then I did in a year in the army."

"And all you have to do is kidnap people." I snarled. He laughed. "Y'all ain't people. Y'all just some freaks. No one's gonna miss ya. Promise you that."

I glared at him and kicked him off the ledge again. This time I yanked him up and down the building until he was a sobbing soiled mess that I left on the sidewalk. I ditched the scarves and pulled out my phone. "Guys, I know who got Jade." After I filled them in I hung up and called Brains.

"I'm going to need my suit. I don't care what Noah said. I'm getting my friend back. You can help or you can get in my way. Don't think you'd like the second one."

He got my suit ready. I didn't expect anything else.

Saturday- Hate

I hated them. These bastards. These animals. They kept cutting me. Having running on a treadmill until my legs and lungs were burning and I was passing out from exhaustion. I want to kill them. My blood would let me if I could just concentrate. But I couldn't. The only time I bled was under the knife and I would be in to much pain to focus. Here they come again. Calling me subject twenty-one. I think I had an actual name. Not a number. I don't remember. I don't remember much. Names and faces sometimes come by but I can't put them together.

I hate them all.

Hate. Hate. Hate. I want them to die. Die screaming in agony. Screaming as I tear them limb from limb.

They're talking. I can hear them clearly. They talk like I'm not here. Gregoire sighs and bemoans the loss of what they're talking about. Even after all of this, they find more to take from me?! I screamed and thrashed as much as I could.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!" I screamed over and over. I stopped when I saw him. The perv. Blond haired with a slight Mexican accent. Close cropped surfer boy with a stupid goatee. Pretty boy. Coasted by on his looks and never thought that anyone could turn him down for any reason. Of all the others, I hated him the most. Gregoire for his psychopathy kept explaining to me that he wants to help humanity reach new heights by advancing science. Ends justifies the means kind of guy. Probably wouldn't hate him if he wasn't the leader in cutting me to literal pieces. This fucker though. Pretty boy. Ever since that first day he's taken to fondling me whenever we were alone. He hasn't raped me but he has done everything else that he could think of. Everytime he would say that I just had just to tell him that I would be nice to him and things would get better. Pretty sure he's on some sort of power trip. The fucking piece of shit. Grab my tits, run his fingers over me, jerk off in front of me and then cum on me.

Expecting me to break and to beg him. To offer myself up. Never going to happen.

"Salazar, is it ready?" Doc psycho asked.

"Yes Doctor."

I raised my head to see them approaching with a needle filled with some sort of reddish-black liquid. Psycho Doc looked at me. "This has killed everyone else we tested it on. Perhaps you will survive it. I certainly hope so." He pressed the needle into my vein and pushed the plunger. Almost immediately it felt like someone had set me on fire from the inside. I thrashed and screamed as the pain was just unbereable. Everything that I had been through now didn't even come close to matching the pain I felt now. I swear my cells were set on fire as my body tried to heal as it was being torn apart. Sweat poured off me in rivers as an time went by. After what felt like years it all finally stopped. My head dropped to my chest and I panted heavily. My jaw hurt. In my confusion I ran my tongue over my teeth and found that the canines on the top and bottom were longer and the teeth in front of behind it were pointed and incredibly sharp.

What the fuck did they put in me? Something thundered and boomed throughout the room. I gasped and jerked up looking for the sound. It was the two of them. Dhalimu and Salazar. I could hear their heartbeats. If I concentrated I could see the veins running beneath their skin.

"Salazar. Leave." Gregoire Dhalimu ordered. Salazar shot him a nasty look but left. Dhalimu walked towards me. "Did you know that I was a teenager when the Rwandan Genocide started? I had just started high school when Habyarimana was killed. A little bit later it all went to hell. My mother was a Tutsi. Married my father, a Hutu man. Interahamwe didn't like that. So they killed them both. Right in front of me. Then they killed my older sisters. Not before gang raping them. I escaped, but not before they shot me several times. I crawled through the mud until the RPF rescued me. It was that moment that I swore I would study science and prove that humanity was not that different. That we could be better. That we must be better. That something like the Rwandan Genocide must never happen again. Everything else didn't matter. Imbecilic notions of ethics or morality. Advancement of science and humanity is all that matters. I know you did not have a choice in this, but know that this week alone you have advanced modern science by years. Thank you."

He turned and walked away as I stared at him. Still hated him. Cut him. Kill him. Drain his blood. A crystalized sickled suddenly appeared in front of me. I gaped and stared at it. It's attached to my arm! I smelled it and realized that it's my blood, and it looked more beautiful than ever before. Back then my blood weapons were bland and unremarkable. Now...Now they looked beautiful. Like liquid crystals that moved and danced before me.

I looked down at my arm and saw that my already pale skin had become even paler, but the spot were the sickle started was black. I looked at my other arm and imagined a dagger coming out of it. My skin blackened and blood appeared as it took the shape of a dagger. For the first time in a long time I smiled.

I licked my lips as I sought to quench what looked like the start of a killer thirst. Just what I needed.

My name is…..My name is….I don't know. Who am I? What's my name? All I know is that I hate everyone here. I hate them.

Who cares what my name is? Does it really matter? Only thing that matters is my hate. My hatred focused into a pure crystalline form. My hatred that lets me stay focused. Hate. Hate.

"I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" I roared into the empty room. "I PROMISE!"

I always keep my promises.

Sunday- Final Scene/Curtains Closing

Tori

I couldn't believe it. It was Cat who found out where to go. That super speed of hers is really helpful. She had skipped school and just ran over LA until she found something. Doing in hours what would have taken us days. Noah and the others at Red Alpha were happy to help. After Cat and that Zoom guy had run around the city, Noah had put all costume shenanigans on hold. It didn't take much convincing to drop that idea and let us suit up. Rex helped by forking over a lot of money. I didn't want to know where he got it. Cat's costume was a red suit with silver highlights. She put her hair in a pun when she put her mask on, that covered her head but left her jaw open. Andre went with a sleeveless vest and specialized cargo pants and boots. He could turn himself into metal. Didn't need anything else. Beck went with a leather jacket that went over a bullet proof vest and a motorcyclist helmet. I tied my hair in a bun before I put a V shaped viser and a blond wig. My outfit was just a fitted jacket with padding to stop bullets with boots and matching pants.

"Why is Cat's the most detailed?" Andre asked with a slight cheek. "The rest of us look like a poor man's cosplay."

"Do you have any idea how much those materials costs for a speedters costume? NASA uses that crap. That should give you an idea." Brains deadpanned. We all shared a chuckle at that as Noah came in.

"This is the part where we wish you good luck. I want to go help, but we don't have enough for everyone and we need to make sure people can escape if/when this all goes pear shaped." He was genuinely remorseful, I'll give him that.

"Don't worry about it. We'll get Jade back in no time." Beck said confidently. I wish I shared his confidence, but I kept my mouth shut not wanting to say anything. Brain's had done some sort of magical computer hacking thing and had found out where they were keeping Jade.

"Good news is that it's close. Bad news is that this company has a literal small army in their pockets. It's a small factory that was converted into a lab. I don't know which floor she's on, just that she's there."

I pulled Noah and Brains into a hug that had everyone else joining. I shot a look at Rex who looked surprised but joined us in the group hug. (Though his arms encircled everybody easily.)

"Noah. Alex. Thank you so much for everything that you've done. We'll get her back. We promise." I whispered. They hugged us back and then left to do whatever it is that they had to do.

Beck stepped up. "Here's the plan. Cat, go on ahead and scout the area. We'll be ah borrowing some cars and meet you there tonight. Stick together and we will all go home."

Cat

"Impulse. What do you see?" Beck asked into my ear. "Brain's right. They have a small army. Lots of rifle-things and all big muscles and what not. Going to take us a couple minutes to get through all of them."

"Really? A couple minutes?" Andre asked. I flicked the earpiece in annoyance and snapped. "Sure we could go faster if you want to kill them." I snapped.

"No I'm good."

That's what I thought. The gang pulled up in a couple of cars that they borrowed. "Everybody ready?" Beck asked. He looked at the very nondescript building. If we hadn't gotten an address from Brainy-guy, we probably would have run right past it because it looked like every other office building that you see on tv or just around the city. A short blocky building, maybe eight floors. You could see people moving around in and around it, but at my speed I was able to see that they are all carrying guns. A lotta security for such an unimportant building.

I started to fill the others in on everything I saw when Rex roared and sprinted across the street.

"Damn it Rex no!" Beck shouted. "Tor-Athena stop!" Everything skidded to a halt as I sped up and skipped past a charging croco-shark man. He looked so angry. Had a good reason though. I skipped a little faster to the people who were grabbing their guns and looking scared. I mean, I would be scared too if I saw Rex coming right at me. The croco-shark man. Not that stupid pervy puppet.

I took their small guns out of their hands or pockets and tossed them aside. I poked one guard in the cheek and flicked another one on the forehead before I moved onto the next two. I took their hands and made them into fists and pushed them into each others faces. I then skipped/ran inside and wedgied one guard and poked another couple on their heads. Then I saw that jerk that said that we different types weren't people. I kicked him in the balls and punched him in the face. Jerk.

Smacked the hat off a another guard, threw some woman up into the air, karate chopped another guard in the chest and I think that's everyone. I slowed down to normal people time and watched as the lobby exploded into movement. Guards went flying and the woman I tossed started shrieking as I waved at her. Jerk-face shrieked something and dropped, holding his nads and his face. The others arrived just in time to watch the woman guard lady come back down and bounce off of the desk. I checked her over and pronounced her alive. If groaning and not moving much. But alive!

"You just cleared a lobby full of guards in less then a second." Beck said in disbelief. I nodded. "Yea, I coulda gone faster but I thought I'd give you guys time to catch up." They all stared at me long enough that I had say "What?" defensively and get them to stop staring at me.

An alarm sounded scaring a couple of us. "I guess that means that we're going to have company. New plan then. Titan and I will hold the lobby. No one's getting past us. Athena, Imp and Jaws. Go get our girl." Beck said.

"Right! Hurry up guys!" I called from the elevator. I could have sworn I heard Tori say freaking speed-demon under her breath, but I wasn't sure. We had to wait for Rex to fit his massive bulk inside and it was a tight fit. "Next floor you're taking the stairs." Tori said into his chest.

"Agreed." He rumbled. The doors opened and we pushed ourselves out into a crowd of scientists and other guard types. "Anyone seen our friend? She's really crabby and says a lot of mean things. You can't miss her." I asked as everyone stared at us.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Shoot them!" One jerk yelled. The guards reached for the gun that I was twirling in my hand. "Looking for this?" I asked. "None of them know. But the labs are on the fourth floor." Tori said. To the fourth floor we go. We rushed up the stairs ignoring the people we left behind. Or I did. Rex just grabbed Tori and jumped, wrecking the guardrails and hauling a shrieking Tori up.

"Jade just let you carry her around like that?!" She demanded. "Yes. You scream loudly, you know that?" Rex answered to Tori's loud frustration. She stomped bast him and blasted the door off its hinges. I don't know why she couldn't just open the thing but whatever. I nearly ran into her back gagged. "What happened here?" I asked.

The hallway was wide and led to a couple doors on each side, I'm guessing the labs. But what had us staring was the carnage. Guards in full military gears were in multiple pieces and tossed every direction. One guy was hanging from the ceiling where something had slammed him into it. Blood was everywhere and it looked like something out of a slaughterhouse.

"I'm betting your pretty friend did this." A voice said and we jumped and got behind Rex. He was wearing the same outfit as me except his was black with yellow stripes to my red with silver stripes. Another speedster. "I'll handle this guy." I said.

He laughed. "You'll handle me? Come on. This ain't a game girly, so why don't you go home and play with your holy shit!" He jerked his head out of the way and just missed my fist by a couple inches.

"Alright. Maybe ya have something. Come on! Let's dance." He swung at me and I dodged it. We raced out of the room and down the stairs trading places with who was first and who was following. Zoom could only wish he was as as fast us as we ran out into the city.

Hatred

People often talk about hate. They say it's a strong emotion. A strong feeling. They say that you can't hate things because it's a strong word. They didn't know the half of it. I didn't know my name or anything like that, but I knew that I hated them. It filled me. Gave me a purpose. Kept me focused. Any other personality I might have had was consumed by this hatred. It felt pure and glorious. I knew it was night time. My new super senses gave me a better understanding of passing time. I didn't know exactly what time it was, but I had a pretty good idea of what part of the day it was. My head picked up as that smug creature Salazar strutted in.

"Looks like Doc's sending you to a new facility. Wants to do more tests with better equipment. Last chance dollface. I can't help you after you leave here."

"Okay. Just please don't let him take me." Somewhere in my mind I knew how to act. I knew what to say to get him to drop his guard. He smiled and stepped forward. Closer. Closer. He stepped up and undid the straps around my chest. "They always come around. They always do." He smiled and reached forward and I smiled too. I kept smiling right up until a blade slipped into his rib cage. He grunted and stared in shock at it.

"Oh what's the matter baby? Isn't this what you had in mind? Someone getting penetrated? Though I think you wanted to do it, not have it done to you. What do you think? To be on the receiving end for once?" I sat up from the slab I had been strapped to, having long cut most of the straps. "I need some clothes. Thanks for the lab coat, it'll have to do as a start. Now which hand did you touch me the most with? Oh yea. You're right one.

"Wait please do-" He started screaming as I sliced his arm off at the elbow. Like hot knife through butter. I took the lab coat and put it on and then stabbed him a couple more times. Light stabbings, just enough to make him scream. The real fun hasn't even begun yet.

It was going to have to wait. Probably brought by his screams another lab coat saw us and immediately hit the giant red button, sounding the alarm. A spike in the brain made that the last thing they ever did.

"I'll deal with you later. Your boss is more important." I told Salazar. If I didn't know any better, I would swear that he actually looked offended over being told that he wasn't that important. I stepped out of the lab and watched as the hallway was filled with rifle-toting guards.

"Freeze! Don't you dare move freak!" One of them yelled. I formed a whip with my hand smacked him with an uppercut with enough force to lodge him into the ceiling.

"I don't have all night. I want to see the good doctor." I snapped. "Get out of my way or you'll regret it."

"Open fire!" someone screamed. Bullets hit the shield I put up and I watched as the crumpled bullets rolled away on the floor. "Your funerals." Then I was among them. Before my abduction, I had kept up with some light exercises, jogging and the like to stay and shape and keep a great figure. And of course the mandated self-defense courses for the daughter of a rich couple. Now though...Now I was across the hall and in between the guards in what had to be a couple of seconds. Blades formed as I twirled and pirouetted my way through them. Limbs went this way and that and I laughed at their terrified and agonized shrieks.

My blood hardened over my skin and created an armor that I used to block bullets and punch one man in the head so hard it twisted around a couple times. Such power! A part of me wondered if I should feel bad about it, but I dismissed the thought almost immediately. They didn't feel bad about me being experimented on, so why should I feel bad for them?

I staggered as I was hit in the back of the head from behind. Growling I turned and smacked the gun out of the scared guards hands. All of his buddies were dead or dying and I turned to take in the carnage. I turned back to the shaking guard and suddenly realized just how thirsty I was. I could see his veins and the blood flowing in them clearly. A tendril hit him in the stomach and he doubled over in pain. I grabbed his head and turned it sideways exposing his neck and licked my lips. I ignored his babbling to lean over and bite into his neck.

I shuddered and started to shake as his blood flowed into my mouth. All at once my thirst seemed to disappear and to put it crudely, I sucked harder pulling more blood out faster. It felt as if I was truly alive! I felt more energy coursing through me then I ever did with several cups of coffee. I kept at it until he was drained of all blood. I dropped his corpse and ran my tongue over my lips. I felt energized, alive and even ready and wanting for more. It honestly reminded me of a particularly good night with Beck. The lazy afterglow, the euphoric feeling of contentment. The sound of wrenching metal and shrieking brought me back down to Earth. So not in the mood to deal with whatever that is. I tore a door of its hinges and walked through a another lab only stopping to free some bald guy from an operating table. I ignored his sobbing thanks as I punched my way through the walls to the outside. I took a moment to be grateful that I lived in LA as all I had on was a lab coat with several holes in it and then I started to climb.

Dhalimu. I'm coming for you.

Tori

I could only stare at the massacre. "What happened here?" I asked anyone. "Something got out and the guards tried to stop them." Rex rumbled. He scooped me up in his arms and I didn't complain as he stepped through the blood and bodies. I could feel his uncertainty and his desire to say something. "Rex. What are you thinking?" I asked quietly.

"Not going to just read my mind?"

"No. Not without your permission. I don't like reading minds anyways."

Rex chuckled and then sighed. "You know that she can heal right?" I nodded and waited to see where he was going with this. "She can also control her blood. Has to bleed first, but she can make weapons and all kinds of things. She usually uses it to clean up around the house."

"She can control her blood?" I asked in disbelief. She had asked me to keep quiet about her healing but she never mentioned the blood-control. I thought about it and it made sense. Jade's a lot more sensitive than anyone would give her credit for. (Or that she would want them to know) It would be like Jade to keep it a secret so that she could either scare the crap out of people or not want to be judged about it.

"You….You think that she could have done this?" I asked quietly.

Rex was silent until we reached the end of the hall and he put me down. "Yes. Anyone is capable of anything. It's been a week. Who knows what they were doing to her? Treat someone like an animal long enough, don't be surprised when they act like one."

I opened the door gently this time and blinked at the sight of a naked man angrily typing on a computer. "Ummmm hi?" I said.

"Don't mind me. Just trying to get out of here. There! Shut down all of the security systems. Best of luck. You'll find all the information you need here. Are you looking for that pale blood girl? She's gone outside and up stairs. Looking for the head doctor. Dhal something or the other. Best of luck!" He pushed past me and raced down the hallway to the elevator.

I spotted a video recording that was paused of some dark skinned man in a lab coat and hit play. "We have made leaps in progress in the experiments on Subject twenty-one. However, we have hit a problem. We should have checked earlier but we didn't have any means to verify it at the time and it is likely that she did not know as well. By her own admission she has not had any periods or period like symptoms since she has had her powers. (I broke one of the monitors in a moment of jealousy.) Her body is more animalistic than we thought because after a couple days of the experiments she performed a self-abortion and eliminated the embryo. Her ranting and screaming tells me that she did not know that she could do that and that she was not aware of her pregnancy. A pity for the lost potentials in that particular avenue of research."

The recording ended and we stared at it. "A father. I could have been a father." Rex mumbled in shock. I stared at him in pity. I knew that he and Jade were a thing but I didn't think that he could have knocked her up. Judging by his face and emotions he didn't think that it had been possible either. He started to pant heavily and angrily. "Rex." I said, a warning in my voice. "They…..monsters. I'll kill them. I'll kill them all." Rex stood up to his full height and he reached up to the ceiling and began tearing it to pieces. I should stop him, but the first time in my life I felt such hate for them. These people. Even Ryder didn't get this much anger from me or any of my exes. I used my powers to lift me up a little bit and jump on Rex's back as he pulled himself up through the floor. I turned my head and stared at the guards who were staring at us.

"So not getting paid enough for this." One said and dropped his weapon. Smart of him. I opened my mind up and picked through their thoughts and saw that Jade had left them alone once they had dropped their weapons. We would do the same. "Which way did the girl go?" I demanded.

"Eighth floor most likely. It's where most of the science-types are and the helipad." The one who said that they weren't getting paid enough answered. Rex stepped towards them, growling. "They haven't done anything." I said. "All ex-military taking the first job that showed itself."

Rex growled at them one more time before turning away and stomping towards the stairs. I glanced back at them. "Thank you for not shooting us. Or my friend from earlier."

The guards glanced at each other. "We..we didn't do anything to anyone." One stammered.

I nodded. "Technically that's true. You didn't do anything. You just closed your eyes and looked away. You've got a second chance. A Lot of people don't get that. Do something right. Or I'll find you."

I wasn't entirely sure that I could back that threat up, but they didn't need to know that. I followed Rex up the stairs. We had just made it to the seventh floor when gunfire erupted from above us. "Guess we know where Jade is." Rex snarked.

"Quite being sassy and let's go hel oh my god!" I shrieked as a bunch of bleeding and beat up guys stormed into the stairway and immediately starting shooting at us. I threw my hands up and closed my eyes. I'm dead. I'm so dead. I thought. Then another thought occured to me. If I was dead, I shouldn't be able to think that fact that I'm dead. Right? I cautiously opened one eye and then opened both of my eyes in shock. Every single bullet that had been fired had been stopped in mid-air a foot or so away from me. Holy shiz! I didn't know that I could do that! I let the bullets fall and they tumbled down the stairs like metallic rain.

"So yea! You see that? Unless you want something else you better leave us alone and run away!" I shouted. The guards tripped over themselves trying to get around us and they didn't shoot us which I guess is the important thing.

"Your intimidation could use some work." Rex rumbled. "Oh shut up. It worked didn't it?" I snapped as I jumped on his back for the final jump up to the eighth floor. We knocked the door down into a scene straight from a horror movie. Cubicle smashed to pieces, offices broken open and people and pieces of people scattered all over the room and blood was just everywhere. Rex nodded and muttered something.

"What is it?" I asked not really sure that I wanted the answer. "Look at the guards. They died quickly and cleanly. Like a professional getting something out of their way. The scientists though, someone took their time with. I can tell already that most of them aren't in one piece. Is that someone's spine?"

I vomited. I couldn't help it. The broken lights didn't help with the look and the atmosphere and the sheer horror of the room. This was easily the most disgusting thing that I have ever seen. Rex patted my back roughly and waited for me to stop throwing up. After a few minutes I was only dry heaving so I wiped my mouth and tried to stand up. I walked forward, taking great care not to step on anyone….or pieces of anyone.

"A helicopter has started." Rex said suddenly and he scooped me up and broke into a loping run. We made it up a second flight of stairs and saw Jade crouched over the body of a scientist. She stood up and turned to us, her mouth covered in blood. Her eyes, they were jet black with cat like slits for pupils. The color around it were one a dark emerald green and the other was a dark ocean blue. Her closed her mouth and I caught a flash of long sharp fangs. What the hell did they do to her?

"Jade. Jade. It's us. We're here to get you out." I whispered. She cocked her head sideways and looked at us. "You two seem...familiar. Like I know you. Your names?"

"Rex. You should know, you named me." Rex said. "I'm Tori. We go to school together. At Hollywood arts. All of us came to get you. Beck, your ex and best friend? Cat? Andre?" I stepped towards her cautiously, and for the first time I used my empathy powers on her trying to keep her calm. She pressed her hands onto her head and muttered several things of an uncomplimentary nature. Slowly I raised my arms and pulled her into a hug. "It's me." I whispered. "Your friend. Tori Vega. You remember? The girl you pranked everyday for years? The one you sang with? Remember you went snooping through my room? Never did tell me what you found."

That got a small giggle and then the dam broke. She broke down crying in my arms and I slowly lowered the both of us to the floor. "They hurt me. So many times. I didn't know I was pregnant and they took whatever I could have had away. They hurt me so much." Whatever else she said was lost in the sobs. I checked over her mind and saw that she still didn't really remember me or any of the others. She just knew that she could trust us. I glared at Rex for standing there stupidly and he joined in the hug. We waited for her to stop crying, holding her the whole time.

The tears finally stopped and she gave a couple sobs and started to pull herself out of our arms. I used my mind to gently pull the extra blood off of her face and the lab coat that she was wearing.

"I was drinking that." She gripped. I decided to ignore that. Getting really good at ignoring all of the horrific things happening around here. That was when the first explosion happened. We were all knocked to the floor and the sprinkler system started. The second explosion erupted and Rex jumped in front of us to protect us from the shrapnel. He wasn't fast enough. I staggered when a piece of metal clipped my head. It could have been worse. As it was I was only dazed and holding my new bruised forehead. I looked up just in time to see the ceiling collapse and I weakly raised an arm to try and stop it. Rex caught the ceiling and held it up. The rest of the building was starting to explode and burn.

"Go. Can't hold this forever." He chuckled. "Me. A monster like me could have been a father. Take care of Jade for me. She deserves it." He said to me. I nodded and immediately regretted it.

"No. No we aren't leaving you!" Jade shouted. The floor started to give away as more explosions shook the building. "No choice. Our telekinetic friend is out. Go. Get her out. I love you Jade. I always will." Sobbing, Jade grabbed me and easily put me on her shoulders as she ran towards the windows. "No." I protested weakly. "Rex. Friend. Have to help."

"I will." Jade said. "As soon as I get you out." She formed a whip and cracked it against the window, breaking it. "Get to a doctor as quick as you can. You're losing a lot of blood."

I'm bleeding? When did that happen? I pulled my hands away from my head and saw that they were covered in blood. Mine I'm guessing. "Have to escape." I said woozily. "That's the plan you idiot."

Yay she was starting to sound like her old self! We turned at the sound of cracking and watched in horror as the floor started to collapse and give away.

"REX!" She screamed. I think I might have screamed as well. I don't remember. I do remember that she picked me up and threw me out of the window. I stared at her in shock as her skin seemed to glow and turn red in the fire. That was all I saw before the fire consumed her and the floor collapsed.

Cat

Any other time running with someone who is as fast as I am would have been great. Now? Not so much. Black racer her could easily keep and match my speed. And he was a lot better fighter then me. For every time I hit him, he hit me two or three times. The only thing going for me is that he had absolutely no experience fighting someone at this speed and so it threw him off of his stride. We raced down this street and that all over LA, covering dozens of miles in what was probably seconds. This ganky jerk! Go away and let me rescue my friends!

Oh an ice cream shop. Could use some ice cream. Ice cream would taste good right now but then I had a better idea for a prank. I slammed to a sudden stop and the other guy gave a startled squak as he raced ahead of me. I giggled and ran into the ice cream store, scaring the zit faced kid behind the counter.

"Can I uh..Can I help you?" He squeaked. "Not yet. Oh shoot. I don't have any money. Sorry about that!" I said cheerfully.

"Um it's fine, it just means you can't get any ice cream."

Says you buddy. I turned around and saw jerkface come sprinting towards me. I pulled the door open and grabbed several tubs of ice cream and smashed them on the floor. It worked like a charm. Jerkface was focusing too much on me and not on the floor. He slowed down to hit me and instead slipped on the ice cream. Skidding into the tables and the wall, he stopped with a loud crash that had the counter-kid jumping and yelling in fright. Before jerkface could get back up, I was on him and punching and kicking as fast as I could. It was going great until he swept my legs out from underneath me and punched me in the head as I went down. We rolled around on the ground and the ice cream punching and kicking each other. I was going to be so bruised tomorrow.

"I called the cops!" The kid yelled. "I called the cops so-" We both disappeared. We started going the same way and then I banked and turned back towards the scary lab place. I heard his goddamn it! And giggled. Maybe he should work on his turns instead of just running all of the time. It took me a few minutes to figure out which way back to the building and I got there just in time to see fires leaking there way out of the top floors. I saw someone falling from up there and it looked like...Tori! I jumped and ran up the side of the building until I could catch her. Grabbing her in mid air wasn't the best thing that I could do, but it was the only thing that I could do. I ran down the side of the building and put her down behind one of the cars.

I then ran into the lobby and saw Beck and Andre frozen in place from beating up the guards. Andre was all metal and tossing one guard into the air as he backhanded another one. Beck looked like he was tossing them around by the bits of metal that they had on them. I saw the explosives in the lobby start to go off and watched as the flames and shrapnel start to go through the air. I grabbed Beck and ran him outside and placed him next to Tori. I stopped to wonder if Andre would be heavier to move because he was a metal-man, but to my happiness, I discovered that he wasn't. Mainly because I just ran up and kicked him really hard. What? He's metal. He'll live.

Then I started grabbing all of the other people that were still in the lobby. I grabbed them and moved them out of the now really exploding lobby. The floor started to buckled and leap up as the explosives underneath it went off. I ran on top of the broken cement and grabbed a couple more people and threw them out. That was everybody in here, I raced up the stairs and checked each room on each floor. Well, as much as I could. By around the fifth floor the fires and collapsing building made it dangerous to try. I hoped that no one else was there because with the collapsing stairwell, I couldn't really get up there. I tried anyways and made it through most of the fifth floor before giving up. Maybe if I had gotten here earlier. Luckily there wasn't anyone else in the building. I sprinted back downstairs and stopped to grab a drink from the water fountain before rushing back outside. Along the way I found someone hiding in the bathroom and I grabbed them too. Yay! More people saved!

I got outside and outran the now bigger fireball at my back and slammed to a stop at the cars. The building continued to explode and collapse into nothing as people shouted in shock and surprise as they landed somewhat gently. What? They were trying to hurt my friends. Not going to be that nice to them.

Except Andre. He bounced a couple times and hit a car and started swearing. I didn't know that you could put some of those words together in a sentence like that. I looked around. "I think that's everybody." I said proudly. "Where's Rexy? And Jade?" I looked at Tori and saw that she was bleeding. I ripped a part of some dude's uniform and pressed it against her head. "So where are they?" I asked.

Tori started to cry. We all looked at her and it slowly started to dawn on us. No. No. We didn't just go through all of this to not rescue them! They're fine! They're fine! I ran over to burning rubble, moving over as much as I could.

"Red! Hey Red!" someone called. I turned to see Jerkface coming towards me. I threw a piece of rebar at him. "Not in the mood Jerkface! If you hadn't been such a jerk I could have been here sooner and saved my friends!"

He stopped and stared at me. "Maybe. Maybe not. Doesn't matter now. I'm leaving. With this place gone I'm not being paid anymore so I'm out. The police and others are on their way. They'll be here in a few minutes."

"That's more than enough time for me." I snapped. He nodded his head and hummed a bit. "Well yea, for you. But what about your friends that are still alive? Think they're up to fighting some more?"

I looked over at them and sobbed. They all looked so defeated and upset. They probably couldn't handle a puppy let alone the police. I didn't think I could either. I sniffled as I walked back to them. "Hope to see you again Red. It's been fun." He smacked my butt as he walked by and disappeared before I got slugg him.

Jerk. I ran back to the others. "Guys. We have to go now." I whispered. I picked them up one by one and pushed them towards the cars. One by one in a state of shock they got in and started the cars. I climbed in and held Tori as she cried. I Andre was crying and Beck wasn't, but I could tell by his wet eyes and the tight grip on the steering wheel that he was trying to keep it together. I looked back at the black smoke that was pouring into the sky as the police and fire fighters raced past us.

I put my head down on Tori's shoulder and cried.

Told you this would get dark. Not bad for the first update in way to fucking long. I think.

-C.H.