A/N: Here's something for everyone to pass the time while I figure out some stuff with my Doctor Who story. As you all know, I do not own any of the X-Men Characters that appear in this chapter. Kudos to whoever finds out who the mystery character is at the end of the Chapter. Please R&R and enjoy!
The Beginning
Run, just keep on running. Then they can't catch you, thought Kela as she surged through the underbrush. Her lithe frame weaved in and out of the Costa Rican jungle, her stature and shape allowing her to maneuver around trees, under limbs, over creeks. That was one thing the Catchers didn't have, slim, small figures. They were large, bulky and slow…well, not that slow. The newest batch of clones did have the potential to speed up to 45 miles an hour, but only on open flat terrain. Here in the jungle, with its twisted vines, lush underbrush, and slithering trickles of water, that speed and bulk just worked against them. You needed to be nimble, be light on your feet just to avoid the old mines. As an answer, Kela heard a distant explosion and looked behind her to see a fireball surge up to engulf the unlucky Catcher caught in the deadly trap.
That was her first mistake. By taking the time to look back, she failed to notice the light at the end of the jungle. As she ran into it, she began to fall off the cliff. "Crap, crap, crap!" she hissed, as the open air swirled around her. Shutting her eyes, she focused on an image: an eagle. A familiar feeling of discomfort passed over her as her bones began to shrink, lighten and hollow. Her skin sprouted feathers and her mouth grew, elongated, and sharpened into a beak. She unfurled her wings and soared high above the canyon. The eagle-vision allowed her to scan the ground, hoping there weren't any Catchers there to ambush her.
That was her second mistake. By searching the ground, she failed to notice her former chasers. They stopped at the edge, loading a cannon from within their packs, and shot a net over the Kela-eagle. It wrapped itself around her, sending the eagle plummeting to the earth. She was mid-shift when she fell bodily to the ground. Gasping for air, Kela's half-formed hands struggled to untie her from the net. She finished her shift, and continued running at breakneck speed. She then realized one thing: she wasn't wearing any clothes, them falling somewhere over the canyon when she shifted. She ran, stark naked through the trees, her enhanced sight searching the jungle for a sign. She dived into the hole and opened the door just as a Catcher flew past. Kela breathed out a sigh of relief.
"That was close!" she yelled, right before covering her mouth. Someone or something might hear her. Silence was the key to staying alive. It meant survival of the fittest. Kela settled down for another long and cramped night in her little hole.
Kela woke up bright and early, her internal clock telling her the time she needed to be up. Reaching farther back into the hole, she pulled out a couple of small plastic bags. Moving cautiously out into the bush, and went towards a small pool she remembered when scouting out the hiding places. She stepped welcomingly into the cool waters and cleaned off the dirt and sweat from the day before with some herbs in on of the small bags she held in her hands. She dried off into the warm sun and walked about 100 paces, coming to a tree stump. Taking off the top, she reached in and pulled out a set of biking shorts, a tank top, shoes and socks. There also was a light fleece jacket.
Not much use at night she thought. It was warm during the late summer in the jungle, it got very cold at night, and she didn't want to risk starting a fire. Putting on the clothes, she began to ponder wear to go next. Now that the Catchers had found her, she had to move, or risk being found again. Kela was pretty sure that there now was a satellite tracker over the entire country. She pondered going to Brazil, but she had a hard enough time learning Spanish, she couldn't even think about the difficulty of Portuguese. Columbia? No, too close. The only real possibility was either Mexico or back to the States. Since home wasn't an option, Mexico it was.
Opening the remaining bag, she pulled out some dried meat and fruit. She took sips from the pool as she ate. Not exactly a feast, but it gave her a little more energy. She pondered whether or not to save some for later. No sense starving, she thought. She quickly ate the rest of the food. After finishing the meager meal, she determined which way to go, and started off.
Being a Shifter, there were some…enhancements to her being. Not only could she morph her body into any animal she had encountered before, (living in the jungle had its perks) she could lift heavier things, being stronger than many heavyweight lifters. The sight wasn't too bad either. Who wouldn't want to see ten times better than an eagle?
But, being a Shifter meant certain death. Kela wasn't too sure, but any Shifter caught by the Catchers were never seen or heard from again. She knew she must never be caught. Whatever company manufactured the Catchers is what is taking innocent Shifters. Kela has done nothing but running and running since she was nine years old. She started in Canada, ran through New York, down the East Coast and further south. She was happy in Mexico for a while, but the guns and the violence scared her even farther south. Next thing she knew, she was in Costa Rica. There she made a living in the trees, holes she'd dug out and placed supplies and "borrowed" clothing for when she shifted.
Yes, she was happy. That is, until she realized she had no companions to help her pass the lonely days in the thick jungle. Kela began to remember the nights, when she caught herself mumbling former conversations with long-lost friends. When she began to go insane with the silence, she became so anxious that she shifted without warning. And that was dangerous. Shuddering she banished the thoughts from her head. She was better now.
Presently, she heard a twig snap, and instantly she was on alert. She focused on the segment of forest, in the direction in which the snap originated. She was about to shift when a deer bounded across the clearing, startled by an unseen foe. Kela visibly relaxed. Just a deer, she thought.
That was her third mistake. A man jumped down on top of the girl, knocking her to the ground, and began to wrestle a type of cuff on her. She fought with all her enhanced strength. Try as she might, Kela couldn't shake off the Catcher as he threw her around the jungle floor. He seemed to shove her into every rock and branch in the entire jungle. She focused and shifted to a mountain lion. Roaring, she struggled with the man, clawing her way out of the cuffs, she rounded on the man, and bit down on the exposed flesh of muscle that was his neck. With a quick scream, the man died. She went in to attack again, but stopped herself. Shifting back, Kela realized that she broke the one cardinal rule of all Shifters: don't become the animals. Doing that meant becoming a savage being that the government was warning the public against. She remembered the day, over two years ago:
"Due to the recent events surrounding the Alcatraz massacre in California, the President of the United States has signed a bill requiring all mutants to register for the Mutant Registration Act. This new piece of legislation is met both support and skepticism, as both sides have taken a stand over the rights of mutants around the country, as well as around the world. The US is planning to present a similar bill to the UN, making the MRA a worldwide phenomenon. Is bill was passed in both the house and the senate following the resignation of former ambassador Hank McCoy over allegations about bigotry in the White House. When asked for a comment, McCoy had—" Maria shut off the TV, despite that outcries of protest from some of the other Shifters in the small, makeshift camp. She snarled in protest at the new legislation.
"This is so retarded, now, where the hell are we going to go?" shouted Maria. She was one of the most resistant to living in hiding. "All it took was one stupid non-Shifter to go mess everything up and now this stupid Mutant Registration Act is gonna kill us all!" Kela tried to calm her down, but Maria just shifted into a wolverine and ran off into the woods of North Carolina to go cool off. The distant howls and snarls of the Maria-wolverine made Kela shudder. It was people like Maria that would get them all found out. Or worse.
Kela began to cry. Poor Maria, she was one of the first to be taken by the Catchers. Kela remembered the words Maria shouted when they caught the small ragtag group of Shifters. They called them "mutants" and tried to shoot them, to get the kids to stop struggling. She said to "run, just keep running, I'll find you someday!" right before being tranquilized. The stupid non-Shifter (Kela knew they were technically called "mutants", but she couldn't shake the nickname that she had heard all her life) that the reporters called Jean Grey was responsible for this. If she ever found this Jean Grey, she could kill her. Why, oh why can't she stop crying? Was it because she killed the man that tried to take her? Was it in remembrance of Maria, a girl she very well knew she could never see again? With great fear, she turned over the man she had just killed. He was a rather muscular man, with bark brown hair, short-cropped that when down to two sideburns across his cheek. She felt some sort of sadness, but she quickly banished the idea. Catchers were Catchers, and they deserved to die.
With one last look, Kela turned at began to walk back in the same direction she was trying to go. A sudden sound caused her to turn back around, arms in a fighting stance and a growl that found its way to her throat. The man that was supposed to be dead groaned awake, and sat up. Kela saw that the back of his neck, which was once gashed open and at a sickening angle was healed, and the bones seemed to have fixed themselves. The man was rubbing his neck, looked at her and spoke.
"Jesus, kid, I'm only trying to help. You could ask questions first and kill later."