Chapter 1

The Escape

. . .

Footsteps. The echoing sounds of quick footsteps down a long hallway, were the only thing to be heard in the murky darkness. The sound of the clinking metal links of her handcuffs, brought back many bad memories, and there was no doubt, that this could be archived in the same drawer of disasters, if she rushed with her moves.

Even though she remained silent on the outside, her mind was creaking and spinning in order to develop an escape plan.

Her heart was beating heavily in her chest, but she assumed that she was the only one able to hear her own blood, rush through the veins in her ears, like a furious river.

Slowly she turned her green-eyed gaze to take a glance at the masked guards, that lead her through the enclosed hallway.

Their entire bodies were covered in a form for armor, but neither of them looked similar to each other. Their helmets were formed differently and bore evidence of having been used for decades. The armor itself was a mess of dissimilar metal plates, though the only glimpses she truly got of the details, were when they passed one of the faintly lighting fluorescent lamps, in the low ceiling.

However, despite their mostly random looking appearance, their grips around her tattooed upper arms were tight and strong. It was as if they for everything in the world, wanted her to know, that they weren't defenseless. They didn't need to be afraid of anyone missing the message, though, for the sharp knives and loaded blaster pistols in their belts, spoke for themselves.

Who and what they were, didn't matter to her anyway. The only thing she needed to know, was that she was alone with them. And that she was.

Without a single second of hesitation, the young girl got herself wrenched out of one of the guard's iron hold, throwing her elbow directly into the front of the other's helmet. His mask was pressed back into his face by the sudden hit, making him stagger backwards. The other one was quick and pulled out his pistol, but the girl was quicker and got it kicked out of his hand with her knee, before he received a foot in the face.

The young girl gasped when two strong arms grabbed her from behind and blocked her windpipe, when the first guard pulled her back harshly against his chest. She dug her nails into his armor as she squirmed and struggled in his arms, her legs kicking like crazy in the air.

When the other guard tried to grab her feet, she placed them on his shoulders, using him to kick herself up and get herself twisted out of the first guard's hold, before landing on her feet behind him. With her wrists still chained together, she used the thick chain between the iron bracelets of her handcuffs to drag the guard down by his throat, forcing him to land on his back on the floor.

The young girl swiftly ducked when the other guard swung his knife towards her, aiming for her throat, but she was too quick. It was like she could see everything happen before it happened. When she was down, she used her leg to kick the guard by the hollow of his knee, causing him to lose his foothold and fall backwards to the floor.

When both the guards were down, the young girl stood back up, panting a little from fighting as she did. Her hands were still chained together, but that obviously didn't bother her that much.

With a slight move of her head, she made her long red hair fall back in place, as she gained an overview of the situation. If her senses were right, she would only have a few minutes to get out of the building, before the alarm would turn on and the entire station's guards would come at her.

She didn't get to think further, before she heard more echoing footsteps and yelling voices from down the hall. Turning her head towards the sound, she growled under her breath, before she picked up the pistol, she had kicked out of the guard's hand.

Turning to run the opposite direction from the sound, she tossed the pistol loosely into her belt. However, when she reached a few steps down the hall, she stopped to listen as more steps and faint voices came closer from that direction as well. Now the steps were coming from both directions, and they came closer and closer with high speed.

She was caught.

. . .

The group of guards reached the hallway and rushed down to the two men, that now laid unconscious on the floor. When the guards from the opposite direction reached the place as well, they stopped and stared in confusion. For there was no prisoner to be seen.

"Where is she?" One of them asked, his voice muffled from the iron helmet that covered his entire face.

"She's gone?"

"She can't just disappear." Another one said, though everything pointed to it.

She had vanished without a trace.

While the confusion slowly grew between the armored guards, one of the masked men carefully kneeled down when his eyes fell on a pair of handcuffs on the floor. The left handcuffs, themselves, weren't what triggered him and made him doubt their assessment of this prisoner. Many criminals knew how to get rid of handcuffs, so that part wasn't unusual.

No, the thing that really made his heart skip a beat, as he looked over the iron cuffs, was the way the prisoner had managed to escape from them. They were melted.

. . .

The young red-haired girl crawled swiftly through the air shaft in the ceiling, as if she had been a character in a spy movie. But this was no movie. This was reality and her life was on the line. Every single step she took could possibly be her last, so she had to choose her directions carefully. And that she did. It clearly wasn't the first time she was doing those things and she somehow knew exactly where to go.

The space in the air shaft was huge, so here her small size was an advantage. She had never been the tallest, so her size fooled her enemies when her strength came into use. No one should underestimate her.

When she reached an opening in the air shaft, she skillfully removed the grate, so she could slip herself through the hole and land with her feet on the ground underneath. She stood back up straight and dusted herself off a little, while she scanned the area.

Soon she figured that she found herself in a large room, but it was too dark for her to tell what it was used for.

She listened closely, not moving an inch. Everything was so silent. Way too silent.

The sudden air preassure from a knife, swooping past her ear, made her body flinch in the darkness. Only inches from brushing her cheek, the knife cut sharply through the air, before it hit the wall and got stuck deeply in there.

The young girl couldn't help but gasp a little, when a silhouette all dressed in black armor and a long scalloped cape, suddenly landed in front of her, making the sound of metal hitting concrete floor, echo through the large room.

The girl scowled at the silhouette as it stood up straight in front of her.

The silhouette's eyes glowed red in the darkness, but because of the faint light in the large room, it was almost impossible to mark its size and what it was, exactly. That didn't scare the girl, however. It would take more than the appearance of a dark silhouette to frighten her.

When the two had looked at each other for a short while, the young girl had had enough of waiting. With a yell that jumped off the walls of the room, she ran directly towards the creature in the darkness, preparing to jump at it as soon as she got close enough.

The silhouette didn't seem to be frightened by her, though, and she neither by it. It just stood there and watched her get closer with almost inhuman tranquillity.

When she got the chance, the girl jumped into the air, preparing to let her fist collide with the creature's face. However, the creature almost immediately pulled out a long iron staff and swung it directly into the girl's face, practically smashing her back into the ground, as if she had been a baseball.

The girl groaned in frustration and pain, but she didn't let the contact with the concrete floor bring her down, though it sent shock waves of pain through her spine.

With one swift motion, she grabbed hold of the iron staff, when the creature swung it towards her with increadible streanght. As soon as she had hold of the staff, she pulled it back towards her, forcing the creature to bent down over her. When it did, she kicked it on the side of its face as sparks sparkled in the darkness, and twisted the staff out of its iron hold.

Getting back on her feet, she swung the staff towards the creature. However, the creature's reflexes was unbelievable quick, and it blocked the attack with just its hands, coursing a heavy thrust to shoot through the girl's bones.

When it got hold of the staff, it took control of it and swung it back into the girl's face, but she refused to let go. Instead, she kicked the creature in the abdomen with her knee, causing a hollow sound to be heard. With all her strenght, she pushed the staff forward, in what was a try at impaling the creature's torso.

But the silhouette was quicker than first expected, and by moving a few inches to the side, it completely avoided her attack. With a tight grip around the staff, it slammed its fist into the middle of it, causing the weapon to slip out of the girl's hands, before it swung the staff around and hit the other side of her face with it.

The girl let out a painful yelp when gravity again forced her down. The contact with the floor, ripped up parts of her skin, and though she tried to get up quickly, the collision with the staff had made her too dizzy. However, as soon as the creature raised the staff above its head to impale her, she quickly pulled out the pistol she had stolen from the guard, and shot directly towards the creature's head.

And the shot hit its goal.

The creature froze in its actions immediately, while the sound of the shot resounded between the walls of the large room. The red liquid slowly ran down from its forehead as it lowered its arms and let its shoulders fall back down limply.

The young girl still held the pistol aiming at the creature, when it let go of the staff and fell to its knees with a metallic thud. First when it was on its knees, she stood up and tossed the pistol back into her belt, as she walked up to the creature, that now seemed so much smaller than herself.

She stared down at it with a merciless frown, then placed her foot on its chest. With almost no effort, she added preassure to her foot and by that pushed the creature backwards, causing it to fall flat and lifeless back onto the floor, with another metallic thud.

Silence. Silence almost to the point of being uncomfortable. But it didn't last for long.

The girl's expression changed when the sound of hands slowly clapping against each other, resounded through the room. She narrowed her eyes when the sharp floodlight lamps above her were turned on, shrouding the room in cold, white light.

"Bravo. An excellent show!" A male voice said, causing the girl to turn around to face its owner as he stepped out of the shadows. "That was so touching, I mean it, I was moved to tears," The young man said with a smirk that couldn't have been further from convincing.

His green eyes almost lit up in the cold lighting, making them look rather hypnotizing. Even though they were inside, he still wore a black turtleneck sweater underneath his leather jacket, as if he was afraid of catching a cold.

Though he wasn't entering the room alone, the girl only kept her eyes on him.

The other youngsters that came in with him didn't seem to be very interested in her, either. In fact they passed her without as much as a glance as they began to refurnish what now was revealed to be an old warehouse, that had been customized to look like a prison. Now the walls were pushed aside and into a separate room, the paintball pistols were collected, and the sofa's and the rest of the furniture brought back into the room. Even the armor was taken off of the guards, revealing young men and women, just like the girl herself.

The sight of the young green-eyed man, that entered the room with surplus and comfort, made the young girl loosen up a little. "Well, I just have that touching effect on people~" she said playfully as she let a smirk spread across her lips as well.

The young man with the dark disheveled hair, gave a small chuckle at her comment, before he, with a simple wave of his hand, made a few youngsters come and take care of the creature, the girl had shot. Now, with the whole room bathed in white light, the creature was revealed to be a homemade robot, with paint from a paintball in its face.

Meanwhile, a cryptic tone had snuck into the young man's voice. "Heh, well, you see. Sadly that touching effect isn't quite useful in this situation," he said and let his fingertips rest against each other. "So to come back to reality, we better talk about your actions through this little established simulation," he said with a slight smirk.

"I'm all ears," the young girl said and crossed her arms, just waiting for his assessment.

"Good. So let's start out with the beginning, shall we?" The young man said and held his hands on his back as he slowly began to walk. The girl followed right behind him, while youngsters in all ages cleaned up and put aside all the costumes, armor and fake pistols.

"I like your way of resolving the problems you're given," the young man began. "Your moves were quick and precise, not a single step was wrong. Everything I want to see in a member of this group," he said without even glancing back at the girl.

The young woman smiled proudly and stood up more straight when he praised her. "Why thank you Dustin," she said with a slight playful tone.

"It was all wrong," the boy, now known as Dustin, said seriously, as he turned to face her.

That made her smile disappear immediately. "What?!" She asked, her green-blue eyes staring questionably back at him. "But I-You just said I was doing great!"

"No, I said 'I liked the way you think.'" Dustin directed. "That doesn't mean it was the correct solution," he said seriously before he turned and began to walk again.

"But I did everything you said! I escaped all the guards, I-I didn't get caught or reveal anything about the base!" The girl said frustrated, while she followed behind him, feeling slightly offended that he didn't appreciate her hard work.

"Yes, but you forgot the actual purpose of the whole mission!" Dustin said harshly, as he again turned to face her. "The point with this training was to get the commanding officer to speak about the royal weapon development, not kill him!" He said, and gesticulated towards the guys, who were about to wipe the red paint off the robot's dented body.

The young woman only glanced back at the robot with a guilty frown. "It was unnecessary information," she muttered, though she knew that she wouldn't be able to sneak around this one.

"Oh yeah? Well if this had been a real mission, that unnecessary information could have settled everyone's future!" Dustin hissed harshly, making her turn her head away from him, his sharp green eyes feeling like they cut right through her. She hated when he snapped at her like that. Especially when she hadn't done anything wrong. At least not in her opinion.

"And what have I said about your powers in these simulations?" The young man then asked and pulled the melted handcuffs out of the pocket of his leather jacket.

The girl sighed and rolled her eyes at his snapping. "Not to use them," she muttered.

"Precise! Not to use them. And what do you do? You use them," Dustin said in an annoyed tone as he practically threw the handcuffs into the palms of her hands.

"Why is it even so important?! It's not like I won't be able to use them if it was real," The girl hissed back and threw the handcuffs to the ground. She had had enough of being the only one to be shouted at.

"Because it's necessary to be able to do those things without! It's relevant skill and technique you're learning!" Dustin hissed back and slammed the side of his hand into his palm repeatedly, to underline his point.

"But it's a waste of time if I will be able to use my powers anyways!" The girl said harshly and balled her hands into fists along her sides.

"It's the principal, Angie," Dustin groaned with an irritated tone and laid his face in his hands.

The young girl crossed her arms and turned her head away, knowing she wouldn't be able to make him change his mind, as long as he was in that mood. Though she was more than convinced that the training without her powers was a waste of precious time.

"Look," Dustin said and removed his hands from his face, though he kept his eyes facing the ground. "I don't do this for fun okay?" he said sharply and lifted his gaze to let it rest on her instead. "I send you all through these things because it's necessary. Between these walls it doesn't cost us anything to make mistakes, but out there, it's paramount that everything follows the plan, no matter what mission it is," he said sternly.

Angie glanced up at him, only to sigh and turn her head back down. "I'm sorry. I promise I will do better next time," she said, not wanting to have eye contact with him just yet.

Dustin sighed and let his shoulders fall back down. However, his relaxed attitude didn't last for long and within a few seconds, he stood back up straight. "Fine. If that was all, we better get to it," he said and rolled up his sleeves as he passed by her. He didn't seem to want to waste any more time arguing.

This made Angie lift her head again and she quickly turned to follow him. "So, are we going on the next mission now?" She asked, not able to completely hide how excited she was for getting out of the old warehouse, they all found themselves in.

"Woah, woah, woah, hold it squirt," Dustin said as he held up his hands in front of her, letting the smirk spread across his lips once again. "We are not going anywhere. You stay right here where someone can keep an eye on you," he said in a flippant tone, like if he was speaking to a kindergarten child.

If it hadn't been for the possible chance, that Angie would bite off his hand, he would probably have patted her on the top of the head. But Dustin, of anyone, knew that Angie wasn't one to tease like that.

"What?!" Angie's eyes widened when he told her to stay back at the warehouse, with the rest of the gang that wasn't going out. "You can't do that! I want to hel-"

"Ah! I don't wanna discuss it – you stay here," Dustin said as if he had been ordering a dog to sit and stay, before he turned on his heel and headed out with a small group of young people.

Back in the warehouse, Angie watched them leave in disbelief. Dustin had cut her off so quick that she hadn't gotten to protest against his orders. Luckily for him, Angie was on the verge of a smaller tantrum. But since he wasn't there to receive it, the red-haired girl had to let it out in another way.

With her hands balled into fists, she yelled out in frustration. "Is there no one on this miserable planet that has any sense for having fun?!" she shouted before she threw her fist through the air in anger and completely separated the fighting-robot's head from its body. The exact same robot she had fought just a few minutes ago.

If it hadn't been for the boy holding it upright's quick ducking reflexes, he would have been hit instead.

With that, Angie rushed out of the room in rage, slamming the door harshly behind her.

. . .