"Ahh!" Sean screamed out as the leather belt came down hard on his bare back, tears stinging at his eyes.

"Now Sean…" the man shook his head. "I know you can do better than that." He raised the belt again, bringing it down on Sean's skin, once again met with an anguished cry.

"Stop, please stop," Sean begged, tears escaping his eyes.

"Not until you give me what I want," the man hissed, bringing the belt down against Sean's pale skin again.

"Please…" The 14 year old tried to wriggle against the ropes tying his wrists to the beam above his head, but he was held tight. "Please, you don't have to do this!"

"I don't?" The man set the belt down and moved in front of Sean. "Then give me what I want, Sean. Scream for me, a real scream. I can't do my research if I don't have a sample to go off of."

"I can't just make it happen, I don't…I don't know how! Please!" Tears rolled down Sean's cheeks, staining his pale, freckled skin. He had been at this man's mercy for two days, grabbed off of the streets after running away from home. Sean had been afraid of how his parents would see him if they knew who he was, what he could do, so he had run away…straight into the arms of this insane man who called himself a scientist. Somehow, he knew the truth about who Sean was, and he wanted to study him, but his methods were less than orthodox, and Sean was scared for his life. When the man wasn't with him, he kept Sean locked up in a small cell, feeding him only the bare minimum.

"I know you can't." The man grabbed Sean's chin. "That's why I'm helping you along. Don't cry, okay? This is for science, it's a good thing, really, we can know more about you once I get some of your screams isolated."

"I don't want to know more about myself!" Sean whimpered, shaking his head, matted red hair falling over his blue eyes. "I just want to go home, please…"

"You ran away from home, Sean," the man stated. "You ran away, and I found you. You don't want to go home because you know you're special, and I know your special, so just work with me, okay?"

The man walked back around, picking up the belt again, beating Sean again and again and again until the boy was so weak from the pain that he passed out, hanging by his bonds. The man untied him, lifted him up and carried him back to his cell, shaking his head. He knew that it was only a matter of time before he found out how to break the mutant.

Over the next few days, he tried knives, fire, anything that would leave a scar or a wound on Sean's back, but as hard as Sean cried, his screams never reached the levels that the man was hoping for. Sean curled up in the corner of his cell, his knees pulled to his chest, shivering. He was freezing, he was injured and he was scared, and the time he spent in his cell was only time between cruel beatings.

Sean didn't know how long he had been there, at least five days, and he wanted to scream, he wanted to give the man what he wanted so that he would be left alone, but he didn't have control over his mutation, he didn't have control over his powers and he didn't know how to make it happen.

"Is today the day?" The man walked up to the cell and unlocked the door. He walked in and grabbed Sean's bare arm, pulling him to his feet. "Are you going to scream for me today? It would make everything a lot easier."

"I'll try!" Sean whimpered. "I'll try!"

"Haven't you already been trying?" The man asked, tilting his head to the side. "Isn't that what we've been doing? Trying? And how has that been working? You need to do better than that, you need to fucking do what I say."

"I can't!" Sean whimpered. "I can't just do it! I'm sorry!"

"Your apologies do you now good." The man slapped him hard across the face. "If you don't do this soon, I'm going to fucking kill you."

"Wh-what?" Fear rose inside of Sean, and he didn't know what to do. He didn't want to die, he wanted to get out of here, to be free.

"If you can't be useful to me, I have to get rid of you, I can't let you go, not after everything I've done to you. We could have been partners, Sean, but you didn't do your part, and now it's too late."

"No…" Sean shook his head. "NO!" He screamed, his eyes widening as he realized that it wasn't a normal scream, that his powers were working, and the man holding him hadn't been prepared. He wasn't wearing his ear plugs, and Sean's scream crippled him. He put his hands over his ears as he doubled over, falling to his knees.

Sean didn't hesitate, he didn't stop to try to find a shirt or a pair of shoes, he just ran outside, barefoot, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans, and bolted, literally running for his life. He didn't know where to go, he didn't know what to do, but he was never going back to that man. He had to get away, find somewhere safe where no one would hurt him. He had no friends, he couldn't back to his family, not now, and he had no idea what was going to happen to him, but he did know that he was safe for now, safe from the man who had spent the past week trying to kill him.

A/N Alright, the next chapter will introduce Alex!