*A/N: I recommend checking out the deviantart page of this story, since there's tons of information in the artist's description. Check it out over here: /d5tbbos/
Grunts and pounding sounds echoed throughout the empty dojo as skin made contact with a suspended leather sandbag. As the door leading into the room slid open, the frequency of the hits increased. Harder. Faster. With one last final shove of energy, the chain keeping the bag airborne snapped and landed with a thud a few feet away from the sweaty young female. Content with the outcome of her work, the braided brunette turned around to face the now open door.
"You completely obliterated that thing, as well as any competition you could have had," the figure stated pointedly. "You've proven once again that you're an excellent student to have."
"Any pupil in excellent standing has an amazing teacher behind them" the girl, Madeline, said. She grinned at the man that aided her in physical fighting skills. When her caretaker, Mr. Hayes, insisted on self-defense classes, she had jumped at the chance to work out. It gave her a wonderful excuse to not go straight back to home, wherever that was. Madeline used to live down in Manhattan with her family. Her real one. However, her father had insisted she move in with a family friend, Kev Hayes, in New York City. He was an interesting caretaker to say the least.
"Well, it's 10 in the pm, so you should head home now. No one else is here except the ghost of the dojo" her teacher teased lightly. Madeline snorted haughtily, inciting a laugh from the man that knew her better than , let alone her father. Those were old wounds he was poking fun at. Madeline used to believe in the supernatural when she first walked through the doors to the dojo at age 16. Her friends at school had made sure to fix that though.
"I'll stay a little longer, if you don't mind? I need to practice a technique from an earlier class" Madeline pleaded softly, knowing the answer before he even responded.
"Of course, Maddie. I'll let you be then."
The door shut behind him and Madeline counted his steps. Five, six, seven... He was far enough now. Madeline looked at her next victim; a second sandbag hung behind her. She closed her eyes and focused on her hands. She imagined energy emanating around her, spiraling around her hands and feet. Slowly, she was lifted above the ground, suspended just like her training equipment. Flames enveloped around her hands and feet, flickering to and fro. Brown eyes snapped open and she smiled.
These powers weren't new to her. She experienced them two years ago, and managed to control the flames. It was as simple as harnessing chi. At first it was inexplicable, but she soon learned that it was simply not something she could control. The mutant gene thrived in her, whether she liked it or not. And she definitely liked it.
Madeline ravaged the bag, flying around it and punching it as hard as possible. She threw in a few kicks for good measure, making sure to not favor one way of brawling more than the other. A vibration sounded throughout the room, and she immediately ducked behind the bag. False alarm. It was merely her cellphone. If she, a mutant, had been caught using her powers... A shudder crept along her back as she answered the call.
"Ariel, it's Kev. I'm going to be a little... late for dinner tonight. Go on ahead without me."
Surprise surprise, he couldn't make it. Madeline cringed at the use of her nickname. Since elementary she was constantly called Ariel, named after the sweet, naïve, and innocent little mermaid. The name stuck on her and followed her through to High School. She even began to introduce herself as such.
"No problem Kev. I'm heading home now" she responded, exasperated. The call disconnected suddenly without so much as a goodbye. 'That's... a little strange. Perhaps he's too tired to talk to me?' A static fizz sounded outside the room Madeline stood in. Radio waves? That must be the reason for the interruption. Despite reassuring herself this, she stood on guard. This was too suspicious to ignore. She began to head towards the door at a cautious, steady crawl. The sound of heavy footsteps approached the door.
All hell broke loose. The doors bust open and the once tiny and barren room was filled with a group of armed men. They began barking orders at her, telling her to stand down and whatnot. Madeline backed up, realizing she was severely outnumbered. She glanced at the three letters that stood out on their uniforms. MRD. The Mutant Response Division. 'Oh God no. How did they know?'
A sight behind the men was enough to make her fall to her knees. The MRD soldiers saw their chance in her moment of weakness and huddled around her. They began to lift her off the ground, handling her roughly. Cuffs snapped on to her wrists, locking her in place to prevent any form of fighting. Despite all of this happening, her eyes were not concentrated on them but rather past them.
Her trainer, the one man she trusted, stood there, reporting to what looked like the commanding officer, "...yes, I'm certain she can set herself on fire without harming herself. She has no burns anywhere on her body."
"Sounds like a mutant to me" the officer rumbled. He ordered his men to lead her away. Madeline couldn't even bring herself to look at the man she once called her teacher as they crossed paths. Her father was right, she wasn't safe anywhere. There was nobody she could trust anymore.
Madeline was thrown face-first into the back of a conspicuous truck. As the truck's back doors were shut, darkness clouded her vision. Now away from the judging eyes of the MRD, Madeline curled into a ball and huddled close to the ground. Her shoulders heaved from the effort it took for her to not break down and cry. It was dark in the holding area, but not enough so that she couldn't see that she wasn't alone.
"Shh, darling, now is not the time to cry" a voice snaked over her. The voice was soft and uneven, and undoubtedly belonged to a woman. A Slavic accent was attached to it and gave the voice more wistfulness. It oddly calmed her and Madeline picked herself off the floor.
"See, that's it. You're a strong powerful woman, yes?" the woman's honey-sweet voice coaxed her, and suddenly all of Madeline's past exhaustion came tumbling down upon her. Her eyes felt heavy and she just wanted to close her eyes and sleep. An older-sounding lullaby with the most sweetest of melodies that was lost in time enveloped her and carried her away. Her head fell back, but this time she landed on something soft.
A bright light brought Madeline back from sleep. Her eyes gazed around frantically, scouring the area around her. The light source came from a set of doors. Memories came flooding back and Madeline remembered being thrust through those same doors. Another mutant was being loaded onto the truck, but the MRD soldiers were doing it slowly and carefully. Madeline took this as her chance to look around. She sat up from the lap she was lying upon. The woman sat there, smiling modestly.
"Good morning, sweetheart" she chirped brightly. Madeline couldn't believe how normal the other mutant was acting. Movement behind her made her spin around uncomfortably, forgetting for a moment about her cuffs. Behind her, a tanned male stirred from his own rest. He was lean but muscular, and when he registered his location he jolted upright.
"Sonuva, I'll kill those bastards!" he swore, shooting one of his legs out and rocking the truck in the process.
"Mateus, simmer down. You're in the presence of a young lady" the woman said, taking on a commanding tone. The man, Mateus, perked up and flashed a grin at her.
"Fresh meat, eh? I guess you've already heard about my name, Mateus, but that pretty woman beside you is Nikolina." Mateus greeted, "Welcome to our family. Small and dysfunctional, but we've been held here for way too long to act as total strangers."
Madeline was about to introduce herself when a huge body mass of muscle was settled into the truck. With a warning from the MRD soldier to remain silent, the doors were shut once again. Madeline was still able to catch a glimpse of the figure sprawled in-front of her. The man was tall and well-built, and from what she could see in those few seconds of light was that he was hairy and under heavy sedation. She didn't like the sound of that. It made the impression of a dangerous mutant, while the other two seemed relatively safer. He did however look familiar...
"My name is Ariel" she murmured softly, an attempt to loosen some tension from the recent addition to the truck. She preferred to tell these strangers her nickname to protect her identity, which seemed like a silly safety measure when she was already locked up. Mateus flashed a smile and shook some of his curly locks out of his face. His charming aura relaxed the girls.
"I say we wake up big guy over here and let nature take its course" he joked, but his eyes shone bright with curiosity. Madeline smiled and stretched out her hands behind her back.
"I've got a great way to wake someone up. Sure, it might provoke him, but I'm sure he can't have that much of a temper. Let me just move around..." she grunted with the effort it took to pivot around, showing her back to the unconscious man behind her. She shut her eyes and concentrated on her inner energy. Flames enveloped her hands and she giggled at Mateus' shocked reaction. "What did you expect? They're capturing mutants, not average civilians dumbo."
"Wait! I don't think we should do this without some background knowledge of this guy" Nikolina voiced with a tone of urgency. Madeline sighed and agreed grudgingly.
"Allow me" the older woman said, hovering her fingers over the newcomer's head. A strange purple aura glowed around her fingers as she pressed each of her hands on either side of his temples. Her eyes dimmed and she blanked out, sitting completely still.
"What's going on? What is she doing?" Madeline inquired impatiently. Nikolina's eyes shifted back into focus almost immediately as Madeline voiced her concerns.
"Telepathy. I can read the minds of others, but only when they are unconscious. It's a little like dream walking" she explained briefly. "The only visions I saw were of him running. It felt endless, as if he was being chased constantly. At least, that's what I interpreted."
"Then, that makes him just like us doesn't it? Being chased by the MRD? I think he sounds safe enough to rouse from sleep." Madeline decided.
Nikolina edged closer with worry as Madeline placed a hand on the skin of the big buck of a guy. Squeezing the muscles, she was able to deduce that she was prodding some huge biceps. The muscles beneath her touch bunched up and shuddered away. A growl resonated throughout the room, causing Madeline to snap her fingers away. She barely had enough time to register that the man was awoken until she was kicked forward. The impact of the man's foot connecting to her back knocked out all her breath.
"Wait, stop! We're not going to hurt you" Nikolina quickly reassured, addressing the man that now towered over Madeline's fallen body. "We're not the enemies here."
The man, possibly ignoring the protests of the one reasonable mutant in the small space, grunted and pushed against his restraints. His veins bulged as he snapped the cuffs effortlessly. Mateus arched an eyebrow of approval at the fellow.
"This one's a fighter. Did you see that?" he enthused.
"No, 'cause in case you haven't noticed I've been planting my face in the ground for the past while" Madeline grumbled. The man, now free from the bonds that held him back, assessed the situation he was in. Seeing no danger in the three mutants in front of him, he reached out a hand and lifted Madeline up.
"Sorry about that. Surprise kidnappings coupled with receiving a burn tend to set me on edge" the mysterious man rumbled, also adorning a Slavic accent. Madeline, although sated by the apology, snorted profusely.
"I could make it up to you by getting us out of here. Does anyone know where we are?"
Mateus worked his mouth, coming up with no answers. He was almost thrown back however when the truck halted to a stop. Voices came from the back of the vehicle.
"Did you hear that? It sounded like that big guy, Vladmir, was speaking back there."
"Then what are you doing soldier? Open up that cargo door and put that mutant scum to rest. Do you know how long it took to track that dangerous freak show down? I'd get a raise just by turning that guy in, dead or alive!"
The lock on the door chimed with the sound of a key opening it.
"Uh oh, looks like we're out of time." the man, Vladmir, murmured.
That's when Madeline remembered where she had seen him before.
On a wanted poster.