Prologue: Higher Ground
1996
A sharp gasp echoed off the walls when the girl awoke from her forced sleep. Her ankles were bond, as were her hands which also, unfortunately for her were tied with the same brown moldy rope that held her body in place on the table she lay on. Sweat and water rolled down her neck from the exhausting torture she had been forced to endure. She tugged hard at the ropes only to result in her slicing into her skin; blood slid down her wrists pooling at her sides. She bit the inside of her cheek forcing herself to endure the pain.
Blind to all that surrounded her, she had to rely on was her keen sense of smell and hearing. The air reeked of salt water and raw sewage. The salt water indicated either she was being held near the pier or she was losing her touch and it was just the water her hosts chose to torture her. It wasn't the first time she had been tortured and it was safe to assume it wouldn't be the last. In the past the frizzy haired brunette had endured whippings, cigarette burns, twisting of her thumbs, and much more. But this was her first Water-boarding; a horrendous act of tying the victim to a table, cover their face with a cloth then pour cold water on the cloth. Essentially it's a technique of near drowning without the struggle. Luckily she had lasted a grueling two hours of frigid water being poured over her face, filling her throat and sinus cavity, then coughing it all back out when she was permitted the luxury of air.
She inhaled deeply, coming up short of two lungful of air and started coughing violently. She swallowed hard, shaking her head hoping to rid herself of the burning that scraped up her nose and down her throat. She fought her strong gag reflex as the stench of sewage plagued her nostrils. So, water treatment plant near the pier; that was her best educated guess. She listened carefully to everything around her but unfortunately all she could hear was the light trickle of a leaky faucet.
The thing about being imprisoned, it leaves one plenty of time to think on ones actions that lead to their capture in the first place. Hers was not a particularly fantastic one nor would it be one to explain at the moment. Again she pulled at the bindings, feeling a little slack loosen against her bloody wrists. A twitch pulled at the corners of her mouth finally she was getting somewhere but that tiny smirk soon vanished when the sound of footsteps and muffled voices approached her position. As silently as she could make herself (which was very) she violently twisted her hands as far as she could, loosening the ropes. They were already worn, practically begging to be broken. A small breath of relief flew from her mouth when they finally snapped.
She pulled the cloth from her drenched face reveling a large bruise in next to her eye and left temple. She scanned the room for the first time. The footsteps grew closer so she wasted no time; next to where she lay was a cart displayed with several surgical instruments that she guessed had been brought in while she was unconscious. She grabbed a scalpel tightly in her hand, sawing away the rope that still held snug across her chest, then the one across her sore, flesh worn legs.
A soft powerful groan sliced through the air when she lifted her body off the cold metal table landing on her wobbly legs as she feel to the even colder wet concrete floor. She growled frustrated at her pathetic weak self knowing she needed to get up. The unfamiliar voices were even closer; she bit the inside of her cheek as she struggled to regain her balance. There was no time to be weak; the voices were just on the other side of the wooden door before her. Her head snapped up when the door creaked open, too scared to think she was at the entrance facing three tall men, all in suits and ties.
The 5'4" girl was severely out heighten but she swung a clenched fist hard into the first's face, knocking him back into the other. Her last ruthless move was a full force stab-and-slash with the scalpel into the chest of the last man. A loud squeal scraped the air as a red blood seeped onto her hand, Yanking the scalpel out she wiped the awful liquid across the white tank top she had on.
Irritation began crawling up the girl's tan skin as she crept down a vaguely lit hall. She bit the inside of her cheek racking her brain on which path to take; obviously her first objective was to get her gear, she wasn't going anywhere without that. Second; get the hell out of there. A single tear ran down her cheek. She was going to fail, the one thing she wanted most; to get, and she was going to fail it. She shook her head and concentrated. As far as she could tell her current location was a warehouse. It looked as if it went on forever; usually warehouses consist of one huge storage area, maybe a hallway or two with a few offices. It angered the woman at how many twists and turns this particular house had; not only was it extensively hollowed out with rooms but each was jam packed with boxes and crates. What could possible be in them and why would someone need so many? She grimaced not taking the time to investigate and moved on. Taking a left when she came to a fork in her path then a right, her silver eyes lit up when an exit presented itself before her.
She bolted towards the door with a red exit sing hanging above. Just when she came within a few meters her way was blocked by four men stepping out of the office room next to the exit door she longed to pass through. One man was short, another was rather tall, the last, was standing between the others, he was large but not very tall. She recognized them immediately. They were the retched fools who had originally captured her. A burning fury rushed through her veins seeing those smug grins across their ugly mugs. They had stopped her from escaping, why not be a little cocky? Now they could hurt her even more for causing such trouble; either that or they were going to shoot her right then and there since each had what looked like a rifle but they were strangle looking. She had never seen a rifle like those and that was a rare thing.
"Surrender kid you got no chance." one spit saliva when he talked. That was so appalling she wanted to smash his head into the floor. She raised her hands in the air sighing deeply in defeat and stepped forward slowly; wouldn't want to startle the dimwits.
One step. Two step. Three step. Four. Five. Six. Now! She dove into the opened doored office on her left spinning on the balls of her feet and slammed the door shut barricading it with a desk along the wall, that would buy her a little time. The men started pounding hard attempting to break it down. A siren wailed through the air; she searched the not-so-safe-sanctuary and noticed a few familiar items sprawled out on the table across the room. She pulled on her ratty old combat boots, back finger-less gloves, and buckled her weapon belt around her waist, last she slipped on her dark green jacket successfully hiding her small arsenal.
Finally feeling like herself again she cracked her neck rolling the kinks out of her shoulders just as the door practically flew off the hinges along with a some sort of green smoke bomb but the dark haired beauty could still distinguish outlines of several men and they were armed as well. "The one that is trying to escape this place will not be leaving this place." There was a short too familiar click sound; she flipped a table over taking cover behind it as a string of buzzing and whirring raped her ears. Pulling away strands of hair off her sweat drenched face she noticed a high window.
"Right." She breathed. Pressing her back against the wooden table it felt hot she turned to see it was disintegrating, she wouldn't be able to keep use it as a shield for much longer. It was time for drastic measures, she snatched one of the little metal balls strapped to her belt, pulled the pin out, flipped up the clip- one; waiting two, three, four; she threw the dangerous object it in the direction of the fire. Took a dive behind the cabinet in the corner. The entire room shook lifting everything off the ground two inches in the air. A huff followed by a ring of coughs forced out the girls throat. Kicking the cabinet down revealed a cloud of dust and debris, a victorious smile appeared as she climbed up to the window, smashed the glass, and jumped out landing hard sending a tingling pain shooting up her ankles to her knees.
It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, the wind hitting her face instead of water. She scanned the area; she wasn't near the ocean after all. She was more in the downtown district. She walked down the slowly emptying street. The sun was just peeking over the skyscrapers, casting down dark shadows, which only made the breeze more intense. A frustrated huff blew past her lips, curling her arms tightly around her shivering torso. She pursed her lips, it was actually really annoying; she just escaped the clutches of an evil something-or-other organization, blew up an entire warehouse and still managed to collect some information that she needed, but no-one cared; more like no one knew. Drumming her fingers over the large manila envelope, she decided to take a quick peek.
There were news clipping, notes, but what caught this girl's attention most was an old photo. She stopped dead in her tracks and just stared blankly at the glossy picture of three kids. Her mind was knocked back to the present by a man in a robe looking garment. She shuffled to gather the strewn papers as she apologized, thinking the clash to have been her fault. He shook his head, telling her the fault was all his. Upon coming face-to-face with the man, he gave her a warm smile, handing her some papers. She took them, taking notice of the bowl he held under his arm. Sweeping a bow to him and to her, they parted ways without another word.
She walked only another block or two before she was recognized by a man that she was pretty sure was one that had captured her. He started chasing her back the way she came, but lost her after turning a corner. She stared down at the man in the suit. He seemed to have completely forgotten all about her, accept he kept walking; as well as being a creep that captured her, there also seemed to be something else about him that bothered her, so she decided to follow him.
She followed him all the way to an alley several blocks from where she had that run-in. She looked down into the darkness; from the rooftops, she had a good view. A fight was taking place below between four suits and…she squinted hard, the man she ran into earlier. Before she could jump in to help, he had taken care of all four men whom had run off, but something was not right. It all happened so fast it was more of a blur; a shatter of glass followed by a loud, painful scream scratched her ears. She flew down the fire escape in time to see the man in the funny robes and his four pet reptiles covered in strange, glowing goo. The man was changing drastically into, to her eyes, looked like a giant rat and the turtles grew standing on two feet, reminding her of tiny turtle toddlers. Keeping a safe distance from the ooze, she made her way to the now completely mutated rat man.
"Hey, are you okay?" She asked, approaching the man cautiously. He didn't answer. "What is your name?" She walked around to face him, he seemed harmless but she kept her gun in mind. The giant rat-man snapped his head up and in less than a second a gun was pointed right at the man's furry face. Her breathing was heavy, and she was scared. He held up his claws in a gentle surrender.
"M-My name is Hamato Yoshi." His voice was calm. She felt a tug on her pant leg; looking down she saw one of those baby turtles at her side staring back up at her with innocent eyes. She soon found herself lowering her weapon, her own eyes softening, and a small smile shown across her face as well. "What has happened to me?" He stressed holding up his hands.
"My name is Sarah," the brunette finally spoke, turning to the man, Hamato, as she introduced herself, picking up the turtle toddler in the process, "I'm here to help."
Hope you like this new story I'm working on. It's been in storage for a long time and I just said "Eh screw it." So it'd be awesome if you read this, you review. Thanks!