Hi. It's my first story so please review. I always appreciate constructive criticism. Sorry if this chapter sucks.

DISCLAIMER: Any Marvel characters or references to Marvel are owned by Marvel. Any corporations, songs, etc. are also not owned by me.

Prologue

Zoe woke up to the radio alarm that played through her muted earphones. Scoping out her surroundings, her eyes adjusted to the room around her. For the past two months she had been crashing at a gym that was open 24 hours. After being lucky enough to land a job as a janitor , Zoe had used the set of keys that came with the job to get into the kids' gym (where parents dropped their kids off to when they wanted to use the gym but were stuck watching the kids) to sleep at night. Although the gym itself was open 24/7, the kids' gym was only open from 8 to 6, so Zoe was conveniently provided a bedroom of sorts that came free with the job.

As she got her bearings, Zoe changed and slipped over to the bathroom to make herself look like she had just spent the night as Emma Santana at her house in the suburbs of New York with her roommates, and not as Zoe Welera, the person just trying to build her life up again. As her brown eyes stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, she struggled with her curly brown hair, attempting, and failing, to make it look presentable. When all else failed, Zoe shoved it up into a ponytail all the while humming along to the radio alarm she never turned off on her ipod. Grabbing a banana for breakfast from her gym bag that contained all of her possessions, Zoe snuck out the back door of the gym only to walk in a moment later for just another "day on the job."

Her coworker Amy the receptionist greeted her on the way in.

"Hey Emma. Over all the gym survived the night but someone threw up by the treadmills and that needs to be cleaned up."

Smiling at the greeting but annoyed by the mess she had to clean, Zoe headed over to the supply closet.

"I'll be right on it."

Exasperated, Zoe saw they were out of cleaning supplies. Again. Grabbing some money from the front desk, she headed to the store.

"I'm just heading out to grab some more soap and stuff. Be back in 20."

As Zoe walked to the closest store, she did her best to avoid the dark alleys that lined the streets. Although she lived a decent distance away from New York City, she still lived close enough that crime tended to trickle down.

She was almost at the store when she felt a hand wrap around her wrist. Stiffening at the touch, Zoe turned around to see a man holding a knife looking right at the cash she held in her hand. Dang it. The one time I forget to put the money in my pocket. Zoe knew exactly what he wanted and wanted no trouble, so she dropped the money and put her hands up.

"Take the cash. I don't really care just let me be."

The man looked at the measly crumpled up 20 and looked back straight at Zoe obviously not satisfied. "Awww. Common. You gotta have more than this."

"That's all I have. I swear. Leave me alone."

Zoe was getting scared. Her heart started beating faster, a constant rhythm. She could hear it beating, and decided to make a dash for it. She just wanted to get out of there.

She kept running until the man caught up to her, and she felt cold metal push up against her neck.

In one swift move she grabbed the gun, flipped him over, and shot him in the leg. At that moment the police pulled up, and it didn't take a genius to know that Zoe didn't exactly look innocent as she stood over the man she just shot, still holding the gun.

"Drop the weapon and get on your knees."

Zoe complied, and before she knew it they had taken away her belongings and put her in a holding cell.

They took her ipod. The fear started creeping in.

"How long am I going to be in here?"

Zoe asked a passing guard. Not again. Not again. Not again. The last time she... Zoe forced herself to stop. She would be fine. She would find music of some sort. It wouldn't happen again.

"Well, since you refuse to give us your name or your family's names, you should be in here for at least 48 hours until you can meet with your lawyer."

"Is there any chance I could listen to music to pass the time?"

The guard just laughed and walked away.

Now Zoe started to panic. She sat curled up in the corner until lights went out hours later. Plotting an escape. The only way she could think of required her to use her... ability... even though if it didn't work she'd really be screwed. When it seemed everyone was pretty much asleep and the guard was distracted by his phone in another room, she knew she had to act quick. The sound of her heartbeat had already escalated to a point where she could hear the muscle working clearly, a sound that warned her of the pain to come.

Guessing that it was around 3 in the morning, Zoe made her move.

She walked over to the lock on the cell and snapped her fingers. The sound was small, but it was enough. With ease, Zoe transformed the sound vibrations that had traveled into the lock into a temporary solid form, in hopes the lock would break open. However, after a few more attempts, Zoe gave up, holding her ears, and braced herself for the noise to come.

How many hours had she gone without music? 20? 21? The effects sank in. Zoe could hear nearly everything. She heard the slight laugh of the guard as he chuckled at something on his phone a few rooms down. She heard the air vents' constant shaking as it pushed the air to its proper place. She could hear all the snoring and sleep talking captives like her in the whole building.

But those were nothing.

It started with her heart. Pounding away over and over and over like the beat of a huge drum. Then her breathing grew loud until every breath she took felt like the screams of a hurricane come to take her away. This repeated with everything inside her. Moving around. Working. Keeping her alive just like all the time. Usually she wasn't aware of it. But now every function in her own body was magnified 100x.

The worst was her blood. She could hear it flowing. Like a creek inside her. Rushing. Raging. Killing her by keeping her alive. Oh how she longed for a note. A melody. A song. The music that blocked out the other sounds until they died down again for another 24 hours. 24 hours. 24 hours.

Zoe, desperate for some kind of song, tried singing to herself, but each time she took a breath she could hear it. All the gears turning inside her ruining the note before it left her lips.

The guard walked over, his loud voice booming at her to be quiet. But she couldn't take it anymore.

Zoe screamed.

And as the scream left her mouth, as the vibrations filled the room, she lost control. All the tension and inanity locked up inside her filled the sound waves, making them solid as they burst apart from one blast carved a huge hole in the building, and Zoe ran away, crying, not wanting to think about the people in the building.

She stumbled into the nearest coffee shop, and the jazzy music playing instantly soothed her. The beautiful sound overcame the other ones, and she let her focus go completely to the melody, until her hearing had gone back to normal.

Seeing the quizzical looks everyone was giving her, Zoe ran. She had to start over again. She ran. She didn't know where, she just kept running. Her first incident in 5 months. She kept running.

Eventually she ran into a dead end,and a black van blocked her exit. Out stepped 3 guards with guns and a guy in an eye patch also holding a gun. He spoke.

"My name is Director Fury with S.H.I.E.L.D. and you can either come willingly or I'll sedate you."

Zoe tried to run around the guards.

Fury shot her.

Her world went black.