Warning: If you are sensitive to extreme levels of violence, then be prepared. There's a good amount in here.

It was a sunny day outside in Louisiana, and dear old governor Johnson was enjoying himself on his private beach watching the sun set below the canopy of pastel clouds. Whiskey in one hand, cigar in the other, he was relaxed as could be. The setting sun beamed onto his peachy wrinkled skin, warming his insides. The sand beneath his bare feet felt soft and cool, the blue salty water of the soothing ocean renewing the microscopic pebbles every few seconds. All was exceptionally well until…

"Ack!" Johnson grabbed at his throat, blood gushing out. He tried grasping for help, a little too late. His brown eyes rolled back, his peachy skin paled to a pasty blue, and his rounded body limp and lifeless. He was dead. A mile away, crouched within a cluster of bushes, was a mutant sniper. Clad in black from head to toe, his face revealed smooth navy blue skin. In his right ear was a communicator, which he clicked to use. "Target has been compromised." He informed. On the other end, his boss was pleased.

"Good. Now get your good for nothing ass back R2." The feminine voice of his boss replied.

"Yes ma'am." R2 packed up his equipment and made his way back to the private army helicopter that was waiting for him. Upon entry, he was met with the thick end of a rifle in the face and as one of the men verbally assaulted him for failing to shoot the target in the head, saying how shitty the job was and how the younger and less experienced weapons could have done better. The fifteen year old remained silent, daring not to yell back for fear of punishment. It was the word he, as well as all of the other mutants in the organization, were afraid of. R2 stood stagnant affront the soldier, letting him yell his heart out the entire ride back to the HYDRA base, which contained mutant experiments and inhuman soldiers. Exiting the plane upon landing, two new soldiers escorted him inside. Aware of where he was to go, as it was dinner time, he headed toward the dining hall, alongside the two soldiers who were ensuring his timely arrival. When inside, they kicked him to the ground and left. R2 groaned in pain as he rose and approached the server, who handed him a plate containing a piece of bread and a bowl of fish broth soup. His mouth watered at the bread, thinking, 'They must be in a good mood today' He headed towards a table occupied by six other mutants mostly around his age. Sitting amongst his peers, the conversation began.

"Hey guys, how were your missions?" R2 asked, hoping they were all successful. "And where is X27?" The first to reply was fourteen year old X26.

"He hadn't shown up yet. As for the missions, mine was successful. I had to kill a casino owner, so I snuck in some of the strange foods there." She told him, brushing her jet black hair out of her face. Her sassy sky blue eyes sparkled as she pulled out a small bag of lemon drops. "These things are what I grabbed. They're so weird, yet they're tasty. I can't really describe the flavor." Scanning the proximity to ensure none of the guards were looking, she opened the bag and gave everyone a piece of candy. The group quickly popped the sweet treat in their mouths, silently humming in content of the unfamiliar flavor.

"Thanks X26. You always receive the best missions." One of them, S8, said. He had tan skin, long golden hair that extended to his butt, and his yellow eyes had slanted pupils which were almost catty. He wore an all black suit, wore an all black suit, in perfect unison with the rest. The color didn't flatter his chestnut skin complexion, but he'd never complain, especially at that point in time. "Anyway, I wasn't assigned a mission. They were though." He informed, pointing at the two teens on the far end of the table. The boy, X25, had sharp blue eyes that could pierce into a person's soul, porcelain skin which was almost white, and messy ravenous black hair. The fifteen year old girl, also known as M13, had aqua green hair, medium soft silver eyes, and peachy skin. She was the one to talk.

"Ours went alright. We stole some information from a place called S.H.I.E.L.D." She shrugged. "Had to kill a few guys who saw us though."

One of the girls silently laughed a little. She had canary yellow hair, peachy skin, and soft blue eyes. She was fourteen year old P8. "Had to? Sure, it totally wasn't because you wanted to." N6, a twelve year old girl with blue hair, pale blue tinted skin, and neutral gray eyes snickered in agreement, causing M13 to roll her eyes.

"Oh shut up." She muttered, annoyed with what she considered to be her sisters' childish remarks. Just then, a new set of guards came in and approached the now weary group.

"X25, dinner ends for you. Madame Hydra requests your presence." One of the men commanded. X25 rose from his seat and threw what was left of his meal away. Trailing behind, he expected to be brought to the head operator room, where he was normally taken to meet with the central command, Madame Viper Hydra. However, as the guards averted their typical path, he knew something was up. His weary eyes flashed around, searching for any clarification as to where he was going, only to be met with continuous metallic hallways with unlabeled doors. The scent was familiar, and it almost reminded him of…

'Oh no.' He gasped mentally as the two men forced him to stop at a certain door. His normally slow heart began racing like a speedily galloping race horse full speed, his sharp eyes widened with fear, and his entire body trembled. 'The adamantium process room!' Fear inundated his mind, and unconsciously he took a step back only to be hit in the head by one of the soldiers who told him to get his useless bag of lead in the room. He reluctantly obeyed, discontent with what he presumed presumed was about to take place. Once inside, his fear became reality. In the dead center of the room was Viper Hydra, along with seven year old X27. They were surrounded by guards, all of whom were grinning evilly.

"X25, you made it I see." Viper greeted, smiling. "You do know why I called you here, don't you dear?" She asked, expecting an immediate answer. X25 shook his head, causing her to speak up again. "Oh I think you do. It happened to you all those years ago. You remember, don't you?" Wincing in pain as due to traumatizing memories of what he'd endured in that very room inundated his mind, the boy nodded. Viper continued. "Well it's his turn," she said, placing her hand on X27's shoulder, "and I believe you should be here to see it."

X25's mouth fell agape, fear once again consuming his being, this time for X27. "M-Madame Hydra?" He choked. "H-he's no-"

Viper slapped him across the face. "Did I give you permission to talk boy?!" She hissed, her fake fangs showing. In fear of punishment, X25 quickly shook his head, falling silent. Viper placed her hands on her hips. "I didn't think so." Turning to the only scientist in the room, she commanded, "Hook X27 in the Weapon X chamber and begin the adamantium bonding process immediately." The scientist did as told, preparing for the seven year old's adamantium to bone bonding process. Once everything was ready, he patiently waited for Viper's command. "Begin." Viper instructed, and the on button was pressed. X27 began screaming in agony as the boiling hot metal seeped through his body and onto his small bones. Every molecule, every cell was on fire. The heat of the molten metal burnt his insides, making the writhing pain even worse. Viper went behind X25 and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Brings back those sweet memories, doesn't it? When you acquired your beautifully indestructible skeleton. It feels almost like it happened yesterday. You were closer to being as perfect as Weapon X than any other weapon before you, only younger. Now it's his time to prove his worth." She whispered in the boy's ear, gesturing at X27. "Even if he's not as perfect, he will be useful for my plans."

X25 stood frozen in complete terror as he was forced to watch X27 have adamantium coated on his skeleton. Flashbacks of when he went through the Weapon X procedure himself pierced through X25's head, causing his toned body to tremble. It wasn't long before the teen broke down and began lunging at the machine, only for the collar around his neck to deliberately deliver such powerful electric shocks that his body was immobilized. X25 refused the urge to scream, in spite of the surging pain, which gave the feeling that his body was melting away. In an attempt to move forward, he passed out, unaware of a certain power that reawakened inside of him.

*linebreak*

X25 woke on the cold floor of his cell, his weak body feeling heavy. Groaning as he forced himself into a seating position, all of the memories of the previous night overwhelmed him. Panicking, he scooted back to the plain white wall and clenched his thought racing head. 'No, no, no, no! X27 went through the Weapon X process! I couldn't stop it! Now he's in pain because of me!' Eventually he calmed down enough to reflect on his disposition. Though he was still angry, so he glared at the door. 'That's the final straw! I'm breaking out of this place, and so are the others! I'm sick of this shit!'

At that moment, the door opened up, and in came two guards. "Get up punk, it's time to get yourself to breakfast." The first one commanded. X25 did as told, only to get shoved to the ground by the second guard.

"And don't expect some glorious meal after that stunt you pulled yesterday. Your rations are being cut in half for the next week!" The second armed guard laughed. "I'm surprised you get to eat at all, you freak! If I was in charge, I'd have you starve to death while tied up and beaten like a piñata!" X25 glared, but said nothing. He got back up and continued walking to the dining hall. When he arrived, he approached the server, received his rations, and headed to his table. Sitting next to a shaken X27, he whispered, "I'm sorry," before turning to the others with determination and stating, "We need to leave this place. What they did to X27, that is the last straw." R2 looked at him as in bewilderment.

"Are you insane?! There's no way of escaping this place. The walls are made with metal stronger than adamantium and there are guards everywhere!"

M13 decided to side with X25. "Yeah, well we have powers that could destroy this place as easily as a B-29! All we have to do is get our collars off! Once that happens, I could bend the metal and create paths to escape, and all of us could kill anyone in our way!"

"They'll find us like they do all weapons!"

"You don't know that!"

"Yes I do!"

As the two continued their argument, X25 took notice to the others displaying disapproving glances. Disappointed, he quickly finished his broth soup and exited the dining room. Guards escorted him back to his cell where he contemplated a reasonable escape that the others would agree to. The entire time, he felt chilled, almost frozen. It was all too familiar, even though he didn't know why. He felt as if ice was mainly forming around his heart and at the ends of his fingertips. He looked down at his hands, and to his surprise, a piece of crystallized ice formed. 'No way! I thought the only powers I had were claws, senses, and healing!' Slipping the shard of ice in his pocket, he devised a new plan of escape utilizing this power.

Later that day, X25 was sent to lunch, where he received another small cup of broth soup. He sat at his normal table, ready to tell the others about his discovery. Not everyone was there yet, so he waited, taking his shard of ice and gliding its point across the vibranium table. To his surprise, the ice scratched it, leaving a small indentation when he pulled his hand away. 'Holy shit, it can cut through vibranium?! Not even adamantium can cut through such a metal, and adamantium is indestructible!' This pleased him because now he was certain that this ability could help them, and at last had a case. But little did he know that he wasn't the only one.

*linebreak*

M14 sat in her cell, waiting for lunch when something strange happened. She could feel all of the magnetic wavelengths around her, which wasn't supposed to happen. She looked down at her collar and realized it was off. Raising an eyebrow, she whispered to herself, "Odd." Then, making sure the camera didn't see her actions, she bent a piece of the metal wall, having it cut the circuitry in her collar without visibly damaging the outside. As the guards came to escort her to lunch, the wall was back to normal, and a smile crept across her face.

*linebreak*

After a few minutes of waiting, everyone was present. X25 told his siblings about the ice he could create and gave them a mini demonstration small enough for the guards to not see. The group stared at the ice scratching the table in shock and aww. Once he finished, M13 decided to let them in on her secret as well. She restored the table with a glance, and everyone looked at her for an explanation. Shrugging, she said, "My collar stopped working. Want me to stop yours too?" The others nodded and M13 used her magnetic powers to destroy the insides of their collars, without damaging the outside, so that the guards wouldn't know as long as the children behaved.

The siblings weren't the only ones who heard the conversation. Three other mutants had been listening in, curious about the ordeal. Hearing that the collars didn't work, the five instantly moved their seats closer. "Destroy ours too." Requested one of them, a six year old girl with pupiless aqua eyes and orange hair that complimented her tan skin. M13 nodded, destroying the insides of their collars too. Grateful, the group thanked her and asked if they could join the escape.

R2 looked at them. "How do you suppose we do that? They'll catch us within seconds of realizing we're gone, not to mention the alarms could go off." He reasoned. The toxic boy with pink hair, B8, looked away while the mocha tone boy with green hair, A3, shrugged, his pink eyes glinting.

"Guess we'll have to work around that then."

*linebreak*

It was nighttime, and all of the guards were sound asleep at their posts. Or, at least X25 hoped that was the case. Checking the sound outside before making his move, he unsheathed his retractable adamantium claws, coated them with his special ice, and slashed right through his door, creating an exit. The teen went through, surprised by how bright it still was, especially at this hour, but that currently didn't matter. The clanging sound of the metal door hitting the ground caused the snoozing guards to awaken. Eyes widened, they aimed their guns at him, ready to fire. X25 rolled his eyes, knowing that those measly bullets couldn't kill him. Before a single bullet could leave their barrels, the teen moved swiftly, cutting the guns in half and then dismembering the men's arms with ease. They screamed as blood gushed from their open wounds, and within seconds they fell to the ground dead. X25's forearms were now covered in blood, and his black shirt was stained. He shrugged, unfazed. 'I'll deal with that later. But for right now, I need to find the others.' With determination, he ran in the direction of the closest cell. But when the boy got there, he saw that N6 already out. "How-"

"Let's just say that the guards aren't very good at keeping an eye on their belongings." The demon tailed girl interrupted, grinning as she held up a keycard. Just then, the alarm went off.

"Oh come on!" X25 groaned. Footsteps could be heard coming their way. HYDRA guards' footsteps. "They're coming." The two prepared for the oncoming enemies. Nodding at each other, they ran towards in for the fight.

*linebreak*

Slash. A set of guards fell to the ground twitching. Above their corpses stood M13, who had molten metal flying around her. Her once medium soft silver eyes were now glowing a bright purple that almost looked white. She continued walking past them, crushing one of their heads with her foot as she did. "How pathetic. To think that these assholes talked all that smack about being superior to us. And to think that the only thing controlling us was was a damn collar. But now those are gone they're the ones on the floor."

After a few minutes, she found the other five in the sector that wanted to join the escape. Sending a magnetic pulse to the doors in her way, they all shattered into pieces. Out came F5, A3, and B8. The lot of them smiled at her presence. "Hey M13! Thanks for coming for us!" F5 chirped. M13 nodded in acknowledgement.

"Don't thank me yet; we still have to get out of this place. Now come on!" She urged, running through the hallway. The others followed, tearing off the collars around their necks. Upon a few turns however, they bump into a particularly familiar HYDRA agent. "Mayme?! What are you doing here?!"

The twenty six year old laughed softly. "Well I am Viper's subordinate. Of course I'd be here!" She said, handing the teen a map. "Take this. It'll take you to a shed full of vehicles you can use to escape. I suggest taking the motor homes because they're filled with money and food. Now hurry, you don't have much time." The children nodded their heads subserviently and continued down their routes, meeting with the rest of the group on the way. When they finally reached the outside world, they were surrounded by an entire squad of men. There were also giant tanks, war trucks, helicopters, and one of the monsterific mutant targeting sentinels. M13 glared. "Of course they did." She muttered. "I'll bring down the sentinel, you guys fight through the men." She commanded, unaware of a particular lurking magnetic force.

Everything seemed fine at first. N6 teleported herself and R2 onto a moving motorcycle, using her tail to pierce the rider's heart and flinging him off in the process. They drove off. P8 sped into the action, using her super speed and a knife to slice through the throats of dozens of soldiers at once. F5 used a shield, to protect herself from bullets, and her hallucination power to make the soldiers miss as she didn't have a healing factor and couldn't risk getting injured. The same issue was a commonality between A3 and B8 as well, who were busy trying to make sure they weren't hit while fighting. B8 sent out as many radioactive blasts he could at the tanks, causing them to explode, killing multiple nearby soldiers, who screamed in agony as their insides melted away in the scorching hot fire. X26 and X27 jumped from multiple trees, trying to get through the easy way. But as they reached to what they thought was the end of the chaos, two metallic tentacles wrapped around their feet and slammed them to the ground. Painfully turning, they saw a six foot eleven inch tall man. He had red eyes, blonde hair tied into a ponytail, and pale grey skin. His red and silver armor covered the visible parts of the technology infused with his body. The two young clawed mutants gulped, recognizing the monster of a man. "Omega Red." They verbally synchronized, struggling to pull free from the Russian mercenary's grip to no avail. Just when they thought all was lost however, they heard a deafening roar of rage that sounded similar to a band of banshees' screaming. Everyone swerved their heads in the direction of the ear aching roar to see X25 racing towards them. His eyes flared toxic green, his claws exposed and covered with the unpierceable ice, and white smoke came out of his mouth. The two on the ground grinned, directing their attention towards Omega Red. "You're screwed now you tinhead." X26 stated as X25 lunged at the Russian, his sharp claws piercing right through the metal armor. The man let out a cry of pain before attempting to pull the berserking teen off his back. But before he could do so, X25 continued to stab him repeatedly, forcing the mercenary to let go of the other two. The boy continued stabbing the man in the back until he fell down, and then he offed the man's head. It didn't end there. He kept on slashing through the deceased ally of HYDRA until there was nothing more than scraps of metal and organs scattered everywhere. When the mini berserker rage was over, X25 looked up to see the other mutants staring back at him, waiting for him to come. Scurrying to his feet, he joined them, looking at the map M13 was given. The group followed the directions the map had relayed, and soon enough they found the shed of vehicles. Inside were two motorhomes, one fairly small and the other the size of a tour bus. R2 walked towards the bigger one. "We should probably take this one. It has more room." He suggested. A3 shook his head and made his way to the smaller one, F5 and B8 tagging along.

"We will take this one, you guys take that one. There are more of you than there are us, so it's only fair. Besides, we won't all fit in there, regardless of its large size."

"Are you sure?" S8 asked. "We can make room! Build more beds, expand the space, or even rotate using a tent! Are you sure you guys want to leave on your own terms?"

B8 nodded. "We'll keep in contact though. I stole a couple communicators and wired them to only communicate to each other while we were waiting for the escape time." He informed, handing X25 one of the two small devices in his hands. "Attach it on your dashboard, and we'll be able to communicate when necessary, or just to keep in touch. Also, my name is gonna be Ryder,, F5's is Encarna, and A3 is Matei."

X25 gave a slight smile. "Understood. Good luck to you."

"Same to you."

It has been hours since their escape from HYDRA, and all of them were hungry. S8 was driving, so he couldn't get anything, but M13 and R2 sure could. They began searching the cabinets for food when they came across a pile of folded clothes, labeled, and a note. M13 took the time to read it out loud. "Dear Howletts/clones of Weapon X, if you are reading this, then this means you have finally escaped. I recently packed this vehicle with all of your necessities; clothes, food, entertainment (you'll understand that eventually), and money(which is the currency used to get supplies). Your clothes are labeled by your weapon name. In return for this, all I ask for the lot of you to enjoy your freedom as much as you can. Sincerely, Mayme Hendra." The two teens glanced at one another before grabbing their piles of clothes. M13 went into the bathroom and instantly stripped herself of her bloodied clothes. She stepped into the shower, turned on the water and rinsed herself of any remaining dried blood. Once she was clean, she dressed in her new clothes, which consisted of a striped purple and yellow tank top underneath her red one-shoulder shirt, long purple fingerless gloves that pass her elbow by four inches, dark grey pants, white socks, red and purple shoes with yellow shoelaces, a spiked black choker, and one spiked bracelet on each wrist. She looked at herself, pleased. She left the bathroom and R2 went in. When he came out, he wore a white shirt with red writing saying "To the moon!" and an emoji, gray and blue basketball shorts, white socks with red trimming, and red and white sneakers with blue shoelaces. The process was repeated with all nine of them, including S8, who switched with N6 after she had her turn. As soon as N6 took the wheel however, she noticed some tall buildings ahead. At first she thought it was just her mind playing games with her, as she couldn't possibly believe that they made it to civilization so soon, but low and behold, they did. She immediately told the others, who all looked out the windows. Outside they saw strange moving images inside of thin metal boxes that were behind windows, some people having conversations with one another, some people holding bags, and some people eating strange foods the teens have never seen before. There was one thing they did recognize though, bread.

P8 immediately vibrated her molecules through the wall of the vehicle and sped off. Moments later, she was back with bread and other types of food she saw others eat. "Let's dig in!" She cheered, excited to get to feast on so much food in one inning. The others didn't hesitate to dig in. X25 grabbed his portion as well as N6's, placing hers on the seat right next to her before devouring his. The group never felt so stuffed. As the ones not driving relaxed, P8 tapped S8 on the shoulder. "Hey, I don't know why, but I thought you'd like this." She said, handing him a bottle of neutral orange nail polish. S8 smiled. "Thanks."

Eventually the group decided to stop, parking right next to a Seven Beleven. Exhausted from lack of sleep, they all slipped into unconsciousness. A few hours later, X27 awoke from his sleep coma to the sound of footsteps. Unsheathing his claws, the seven year old decided to investigate.

Everyone shot up from where they slept to the sound of a terrified scream. When they saw that X27 was missing, they rushed to their feet, and almost threw the motor home door off its hinges bursting outside. There they saw the bounty hunter Gauntlet holding a gun up to X27's head. "I'd listen to what I'm told if I were you. This gun is loaded with adamantium bullets."

X25 looked down at his feet and nodded. "I'll come quietly…" he started, walking towards the grinning man. The others watched in shock, not wanting him to surrender. What came next, however, no one expected. The boy disappeared in thin air, and everyone looked around trying to see where he went. A few moments later, he appeared behind Gauntlet, stabbing him right in the heart. The bounty hunter dropped his gun and twitched before dropping dead. S8 placed a hand on X25's shoulder. "That was a nice trick dan."

P8 rose an eyebrow. "Did you just say Dan?"

"Whoops. I meant to say man."

X25 shook it off. "You know, that's not a bad name. Danny Howlett."

S8 crossed his arms. "Nice. I'll be Jason Howlett then."

"Ronnie." R2 stated, yawning.

"Lizzy." M13 suggested for herself.

"Damien!" X27 cheered.

"Paige I guess." P8 shrugged.

"I'll be Danielle then, since I look like your twin Danny." X26 said.

"And I'll be Kate!" N6 finalized.

So there are the Howletts. Once victims of a corrupt organization, now a group of free individuals with a life to call their own What's to come to their future? Well only time can play that out. Stay in tuned for the next chapter!

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