Chapter 1: Long Awaited Escape

Cold, quiet, empty. This is all she knew. This was all she had known for a long time. She was not like any normal girl you know. She was a monster.

Trapped in here, doomed to an eternity of isolation. They used to do tests on her before she became far too dangerous. Now they simply kept her locked up. Like a pet. They knew if they killed her the evil would escape and the search would start all over again. They sent their lowest ranking employee to bring her food and spray her down with a hose. Apparently that counts as bathing. They thought it was a simple task keeping her contained, but they never knew the truth until it was too late.

"Alright, Aronson, your turn to feed number 47." his co-worker said.

"Dammit!" Joseph Aronson cursed. "Why do I always get the shit jobs?" he growled.

"Just shut up and do it. It's not as hard as it sounds and you know it."

And with that he set a tray filled with a cold piece of chicken, a biscuit, and a dirty plastic cup filled with tap water on Joseph's desk and left the room. Joseph sighed and took it with him as he walked out of his office and into an elevator just down the hall, going down to the containment level where the beasts were kept.

When the doors opened again he was greeted by a guard who, despite knowing that Joseph came here often and knew where the correct cell was, escorted him through the cold all white hallways to a large door. The guard pulled out a walkie-talkie and gave the order to open the door. A mix of static and incoherent words came back in response and several seconds later the door slowly opened. As the two stepped inside it closed behind them and another opened a few feet in front of them.

Though he had done this as almost a routine thing Joseph backed up and tried to swallow is fear. That girl gave him the creeps. He finally stepped inside with the guard staying close behind him. Joseph stopped a few feet in front of her making sure to be out of her reach and slowly pushed the tray to her being careful not to spill the drink.

She looked like any normal human girl. She had pale skin and blonde hair. Of course her treatment in this place had left her terribly thin and her shoulder length hair had turned to more of a brown color for years of improper hygiene. She sat on the cold floor curled up with her head in her knees and chains on her wrists and ankles. She had never looked up when people were around. She mostly just slept. And she never, EVER, opened her mouth to speak. You could barely hear her breathe. She was creepy but this wasn't the worst side of her.

Joseph slowly got up and turned away. Then he heard a small raspy voice.

"You don't know how powerful I am."

He froze in his tracks and turned around to see two bloodshot red eyes staring at him. The girl smiled a little, quickly grabbing her drink and taking a long sip. She dropped it on the ground next to the tray and slowly stood up on her shaking legs. She closed her eyes for a second in a deep focus before opening them and letting the smile on her face grow.

The guard pulled out his gun but the girl was not the slightest bit intimidated. Her chains flew off whipping both of them leaving bleeding slash marks across their faces. The guard fired several shots but in his daze all of them missed as the girl ran from the room. He tried to find his walkie-talkie but only saw the smashed pieces surrounding him and the unconscious Joseph. The girl built up a glowing black orb sparking with red electricity in her hand and threw it through the large metal door, leaving a gaping hole in it, which she gracefully hopped through.

She knew the cameras would see her soon but it didn't matter to her. She could sense the energy pouring out of the object that she needed. She slowly made her way down the hall and up to a flight of stairs that lead to the lab and testing level. She was half way up when red warning lights began to flash and a woman's voice echoed around her from the intercom. "This is an emergency alert. A D-class subject has escaped the vault. All staff evacuate the facility immediately." she smirked at how remarkably calm the woman sounded as she picked up her pace on the stairs.

She burst through the small door which led into another white hallway. She saw the guards coming and smiled standing firmly in her place, waiting for them. Even from a distance she could hear their terrified whispers to each other. Only a few kept straight faces or a sadistic grin, showing they'd happy to blow her face off. She took several steps forward and jumped into the air floating above them.

"Hurry shoot her!" one of them shouted.

They fired but the girl dodged with only one grazing her arm. She landed in the middle of the group taking a knife from one of the guards back pockets.

"Shoot me." she muttered before stabbing the officer behind her in the shoulder.

She cut and slashed at everyone one of them occasionally dodging fire. Eventually she was standing quietly in a mess of blood and bodies, only a few were breathing. The girl gripped the blade tightly finally taking the time to examine it.

It had come off the only female guard in the group. It had a wood handle with a few pink flowers on the back. On the front were several letters printed in gold. Alice. The girl nodded to nothing in particular and stepped up to the locked door that led to one of the laboratories.

With another blast the metal door fell off its hinges and onto the floor. Everyone who had been dumb enough to stay turned to her in shock and most hid behind tables or equipment. She disregarded them and slowly walked across the room to a small case. Inside was a glowing small red gem attached to a strip of black fabric. The girl jumped back firing a blast at the case. She avoided the broken glass that had fallen onto the ground with ease and took the gem in her hands.

"NO!" a scientist charged for her knowing that with that gem it was all over.

Taking a beaker he attempted to knock her out, even kill her. But suddenly he stopped. The girl glared at him as she choked him with her powers. He dropped the beaker which smashed on the ground and the man flew against the wall, blood spilling from him as he was impaled on a switch on the wall. The girl pulled him out and dropped him on the ground as the other employees screamed or threw up, one of them actually doing both.

She allowed the other staff members to escape as she found a medical kit and bandaged her bleeding arm while hiding from the guards in one the supply closets.

After killing several more guards the girl had made her way to the back emergency door. She took a second to take a deep breath and blew it open. She was blinded by the outside light and goosebumps covered her skin as the evening breeze blew past her. She stepped out into the golden light and made her way over the chain-link barb wire fence and out onto the rocks overlooking the sparkling blue ocean.

A man watched her, knowing she was planning something. He held his sniper steady and focused, keeping the pointer on her neck and his finger on the trigger. "Goodbye my dear." he chuckled in a low voice.

The girl knew someone was aiming for her. Why would they not be? She built up her power in her hands again as she walked slowly to the edge. Her toes gripped the edge of the rocks and taking one second to breathe she jumped, turning back and firing to the upper window as she fell. She heard a massive explosion as she fell into the ocean and formed a bubble around herself to protect her. The waves began to carry her towards the shore as she curled up in her bubble of energy tying the gem around her neck.

"I have it. Pack up and find me. I'll be waiting…" she thought sending her telepathic message to her partner.

…..

No one ever notices a stray animal, do they? They've never seen Ruby anyways.

She was a gray cat with a white face, paws, and tip of her tail. She had a bright pink nose and shiny blue eyes. Her ears twitched as her friend's message ran into her head. She didn't have the ability to respond but she knew what to do. Ruby may have been born in an alley but she certainly wasn't an alley cat, she had been staying in there only because it was an easy source of food. She was an intelligent cat so she didn't want to waste her time chasing rodents and other little things.

She dragged a small torn up and dirty purse out from behind the dumpster. Inside was a large book and various articles of clothing that she had sadly had to steal, but c'mon, who's going to sell clothes to a cat anyways? She pulled the strap over her head and slowly crept out with the bag dragging right behind her. She quickly saw a flatbed truck about to stop at a red light which seemed to be heading in the direction she needed to go. Just her luck.

Ruby ran holding the bag in her teeth and jumped into the truck just before the light turned green. She sighed and caught her breath while keeping an eye on where this truck was going. She'd be there in no time.

…..

The girl opened her eyes to find herself in shallow water looking up at the stars. She sat up and turned to see a small beach in front of a dense forest. Taking in every detail she told her partner, again telepathically. She knew she could find her. The girl made her way into the woods, shivering from the water that clung to her skin. She avoided as many things on the ground as she could but with her limited vision she soon felt stings of pain from stepping on sticks and other debris.

Later she sat down on a fallen log to rest her feet and listened to the wind rush past the leaves. She waited for a very long time until she heard something in a bush nearby.

"Lexi?" she heard a voice whisper.

"You know not to call me that now Ruby." she responded with a small smirk.

Ruby poked her head out of the bush and beamed running to the girl. She jumped up in her lap and nuzzled her, purring. The girl, Lexi hugged her furry friend with a warm smile growing on her face.

"It's been so long Ruby. I missed you."

"Four years to be exact." Ruby corrected.

"And it could've been ten without you, you sneaky little rat." Lexi smirked rubbing Ruby's head.

"Well, you cast the spell to let me talk and understand you." the two friends exchanged a few more smiles before Ruby handed Lexi the bag.

"I got everything I could and our new house isn't too far from here." Ruby explained.

"What would I do without you?" Lexi smirked.

She pulled out the clothes, slipping them on. She now wore a short black dress with a light pink t-shirt underneath, long black and pink striped socks, red fingerless gloves and red ballet flats.

"You brought the spell book too, right?" Lexi asked.

Ruby nodded and pulled the thick book out. Lexi took it and examined it closely. The book's cover was a dull green and covered in dirt. The gold designs on the edges shined in the moonlight as Lexi ran her fingers over them. She opened it to a specific page that was bookmarked with a sticky note. Reading the spell over a few times she soon began to say the words out loud.

Her hair began to glow and it soon went past her back and continued to grow until it was almost to her ankles and her bangs covered her face. The glow faded as the edges of her hair turned a bright red. Ruby gave Lexi a hair tie and she pulled in back in a ponytail. Taking a black bow hair clip she pulled back the bangs covering her left eye and held it in place.

"So you have a new look now. What about your name?" Ruby asked.

Lexi looked back to the log she had been sitting on and where she had been was where the pocket knife now was.

"Alice." she muttered. "That name will do for now."