Chapter 1 New beginning
I saw my mother's painful face and her tears streaming down her cheeks as she forced me a smile. Her hair was a mess and she had a small cut on her left cheek, her dress was torn on the edges by her sleeves shirt and her face was slightly bruised from the beating she had received.
A man dressed in a green attire held her in a firm grip and forced her down on one knee, holding a weird gun towards her temples. His face was hidden behind a mask in the shape of a beast, and his hand holding her was deformed from the frying pan I had thrown at him earlier.
I cried and begged them to let her go, but they didn't. I was taken away from my mother, and I never saw her again.
I woke up from my memories when a fake cough sounded and looked at the woman in front of me. She was a beautiful woman, with a body any supermodel would envy, dressed in a magenta suit with shining white hair over her shoulders and bangs covering most part of her eyes and the magenta painted mask. Her lips were painted in the same magenta color as the suit, and on her wrists there were two matching silver bracelets that clung to the skin with two red gems on the upper side. Her suit was a simple dark pink leotard, fingerless gloves up to her armpits and long boots to her thighs with a small chain around her ankles. She had a small, pointy nose and high cheekbones, making her a natural beauty.
If you think madness is beauty.
"Do you copy, Amentia?" she asked with her cool, deep female voice. She sounded terrifying sometimes, but after ten years under her torturous classes I had gotten used to her.
"Yeah, yeah." I said nonchalantly and drew another bunny in my notebook. She was supposed to teach me how to hack all types of machines there was in the world, but I had already learned it two years ago and proven it when I hacked myself into her computer to change her notes to bug her.
She slammed her hand into the table where I sat and made me jump slightly. I loved to bug her and make her snap, because I knew that she could do nothing about it.
"You are supposed to answer me properly, Amentia. Again." she demanded. I sighed and took down my legs from the table, and let out a sigh.
"Yes ma'am." I said and faked a smile to her, even though my eyes deceived me and burned a hole through her bangs into her obviously blue eyes. I had seen them before, and once been afraid of them, but now I knew that it was me she feared.
"Let me see them." she said and took the notebook next to me. I dropped the pencil on the table and sighed again in frustration. She would always act like the angry teacher type, even if she was terrified of me. She looked through the fifteen pages of doodles that I had made and slammed the book on my head.
"Hey, what was that for?" I asked angrily and removed my legs from the table down to the floor.
"This is the fifth time this week you don't listen to me!" she yelled and slammed the book into the table. "If you don't want the boss to finish your mother, you better listen carefully to what we say!"
I flinched and widened my eyes in fear under my sunshades. I corrected my position and opened a fresh page of the notebook and wrote down the content of the board. I saw her smirk in the corner of my eye and clenched my left fist under the table.
My name is Lyra Didrikson. I'm born in the summer, blood type O+, and I am a half blood between a human and a magic creature.
My hair is raven black and my eyes are purple. They are the effect of my fathers magic blood and have a special power to them, that is why I always wear shades. My face is pretty narrow and my cheekbones are more visible than the woman's, my eyes are big with dark eyelashes and full lips in a natural red color. My skin is fairly light, almost unhealthily pale and I have a tattoo on my left shoulder in the shape of a swirl with four small arrows pointing in different directions, symbolizing the sun.
I usually wear more casual clothes, most likely jeans with gashes by the knees, tank tops in different dark colors, black boots and a small jacket in different materials. My makeup was always a mixture of dark lipstick, black mascara and eyeshadow, and if I had the energy to I put on some eyeliner.
Of course, I had a secret identity too. I am Amentia, the illusionist and creator of madness and nightmares just by a look into my eyes. Amentia is Latin for madness, which also suits my personality perfectly.
I may act bad ass and rude, but truth is that I only act that way in front of people I don't like, such as the woman. In fact, I am tough and hard to read, but I have a caring side that always wish for my loved ones safety and protection. Sometimes I even confuse myself, but I have a playful and somewhat childish side to me as well.
Back to the catwalk.
For my secret identity, I wear a black sleeveless leather vest with a high neck and a zipper in front, reaching just above my waist. I wear black rolled up short shorts in a synthetic material that looks and feels like leather but lets me breathe and move freely. I also have long sock-like tubes over my legs from the middle of my thigh to a small baggy form at the bottom by my thick boots with steel toecaps and heels, and two wide black belts crossing my hips like a cross with two small pockets attached to them. The pockets are as wide as the belts, but not deep and can only fit flat stuff. In one of them I keep my knuckledusters, in the other I keep a small knife. I have steel pads on my knees and elbows, and fingerless gloves in leather.
My hair goes to the middle of my back, but I usually put it up in a ponytail or a bun, however a few strands of hair are always pointing up in the air no matter what haircut I have.
"Amentia!" the woman yelled and tapped the holographic board in front of me. I snapped out of my mind and looked at her, and pretended that I took notes.
"What now?" I yelled back, sounding annoyed and gave her a small stare over the shades. She flinched as she saw my purple orbs but shrugged it off and continued.
"You have new orders from head commander." she said and pointed to my pocket on my right thigh. I opened it and looked at the small device I had received a while ago and saw the message log shine into my eyes. I opened it and saw the small letters shine, forming a message on the small screen.
'Come to the office. New orders. Mission objective begun.'
I sighed and placed my feet on the floor again, rose from the chair and waved my hand to the woman.
"See ya, Magenta." I called and slammed the door open with a powerful kick from my heavy boots and walked out. Magenta ran after me and followed me with her shining red eyes, sighed and turned back into the room to gather a few things.
I giggled and saw two henchmen approach me. They seemed to talk about something they both found amusing, so I adjusted my hearing to hear them better and dropped the smirk I had on my lips when I heard them talk about me.
"Hey look, that's the boss' pet." one of them said and looked at me through his thick goggles. They both wore similar suits, deep blue with black shoes and gloves and thick goggles to prevent them from my looks. They also wore a black cap to cover their hair. Some let their bangs or sideburns hang out even though they weren't allowed to, but the boss let it slip because he couldn't deal with the hundreds of people working for him showing a little hair.
"Yeah, back from another class with Magenta." the other snorted. "Wonder what they teach her."
"Maybe how to please boss or something." the first one said and laughed, but he fell silent as they walked past me. I looked down at the floor to prevent eye contact, but all I wished for was to kill them both. Instead, I let them have their sick fantasy and just walked on to the office.
I walked through large corridors with high ceilings covered in metal plates. There was only dim light in the rooms, but the metal reflected the light enough to let the inhabitants see where they were heading. Otherwise, there was nothing more to it. Nothing to decorate the place, nothing to make the place a little less... dead.
I came to the office pretty quickly. Or maybe it took a few minutes, it was hard to tell since there were no clocks on the walls and no on the communicator I had.
I took a deep breath and knocked on the door, opening it quietly without waiting for an answer. I saw absolutely nothing, but once I had taken a step inside and closed the door behind me the light filled the room and blinded me.
"Please, come in." a deep male voice said and caught me off guard. I looked around the room and noticed the empty book shelves and the dusty desk with the red chair behind it, its back towards me. A small wooden chair was placed for me in front of the desk and told me to sit down without a sound. I sat down and leaned back into the back of the chair with a bored expression on my face.
"I see in the reports that you are becoming more and more safe with your position here. Maybe we have to give you a new taste of the world outside, don't you think so?" he said and turned to face me. I swallowed when I saw his emotionless face and almost fell off of the chair when I saw his new fresh scar.
The boss, also known as Mr. Day, was an old man compared to me. He was about 50 or 60, had all white hair and red eyes in his somewhat round and wrinkled face. The scar lingered over his left eye and glowed red against his pale skin. He wore a black suit and had cut his hair to just barely an inch in length, and in his hand he held a bunch of papers.
"Yeah, Mr. Day, so what?" I asked nonchalantly and smirked and placed my left foot on the edge of the desk. "What's the problem with that?"
"The problem is that we can not keep you in here much longer." he explained and placed the papers on the desk before he placed his hands under his chin with his elbows against the armrests of his chair. "I do believe that it is time to send you on your first field mission."
"Hold on a second!" I said and took down my foot and looked into his eyes. "I won't go anywhere far from my mom. It's a deal, remember?"
"Don't worry, my dear. She will be placed in a safe custody near your position." he assured me and placed a hand on the papers. "Now, this is only if you are interested. If you are not, you will have to stay here with Magenta and the others and continue your studies until we can come up with another mission. Of course..." he added and smirked evilly, placing both hands on the desk with his finger on a button close to him. "... I do not know if I can promise you your mothers safety for that long."
I sighed and felt a shiver down my spine. He always threatened me by threatening my mother, and he always got the way he wanted thanks to that.
"What, when and where?" I asked with a sigh and placed my foot back on the desk. He handed me the papers and let me look through them. They were pale yellow, a standard for the papers in this organization. I saw several pictures attached to the papers with a clip or a bit of tape.
'Project Breakout', the headlines said. There was a few facts of the most famous prisoners in the three known prisons; The Cube with special case prisoners who had been exposed to a great gamma radiation or similar. The Big House with another special case of outlaws shrunk into the size of ants, and last but not least the Vault, protected by the best of the best guards from Shield itself. There were reviews of the protocols and facts with who had done what, powers, previous identity, and so forth.
"Why do I need a full report of some simple bad guys? We have guys far stronger than these creeps." I said and looked at another page. Mr. Day laughed and leaned back in his chair.
"Open up page 35." he said simply and smirked at me. I did as I was told and looked at the page, widening my eyes as I recognized the names.
"These are..." I started but lost my tongue. Mr. Day smiled and leaned forward again with serious eyes.
"The most dangerous prisoners kept at each known prison. The Hulk, more known as Bruce Banners, is held at the Cube in wait for a 'cure' for the Hulk himself. Mad Thinker is kept at the Big House, but that is all we know. The Vault, keeping Baron von Strucker in an isolated cell for precautions. However, we have no information from the forth prison."
I raised an eyebrow at the last statement. "The forth prison?"
"Yes. When you hacked into the SHIELD main computer three days ago, we managed to download a classified file with the names of the four secret prisons around the Earth." Mr. Day said and folded his hands under his chin again. "And yesterday you managed to open the heavily encrypted files, which is why we have been hard on your hacking training."
"Well, why do you need me now?" I asked and closed the file before I tossed it back on the table. "I hacked the files, gave you the data, now what?"
"We need you to hack one last thing, to help our fellow criminals out to crush the heroes scattered all over the planet." Mr. Day said and showed me his yellow teeth in a wide grin. I sighed and furrowed my eyebrows.
"You mean your fellow criminals. I do what you say to keep my mom safe." I said and sat properly in the chair. "If you need me to hack one last thing, sure. But then what? How do I know that you won't find me of any use and kill us both?"
"I promise you." he said and grinned again. "I can not kill your mother as long as you work for me. And I do have use for you. You will go out there, get the heroes attention and trust, and then make them go into a trap we set for them. More information will come along the time."
"Wait, you want me to lie to the most famous and dangerous people in the world?" I almost yelled and stood up so fast that the chair fell to the floor. "Lie to them and then betray them? You're crazy!"
"Do you want to save your mother or not?" he threatened and gave me a glare. I stiffened and took a step back and hit the chair with my foot.
"I do." I whispered and looked into his eyes with both fear and worry. He smiled and gave me another file. I took it gently and opened it, and saw a picture of me. "What the-"
"We will give you a temporary identity, since you only know your first name. Your new name is from now on Lyra Lewis, also known as the hero Amentia, living in New York city. You will be provided with money, material and all various supplies you may need for this mission."
"And what of... Master?" I asked and thought of the frightful man that was the real head of the place. He had only talked to me once, and that was day three after the abduction.
"He will be... otherwise occupied. But he is still the prime leader of this organization." Mr. Day said and seemed a little worried himself. I knew that the only person Mr. Day really feared more than death itself was Master's wrath. I smirked and took the files with me as I left.
"Very well, I have a mission and I will fulfill it." I said. "But I want it in one condition; you free my mom after that."
"I will see what I can do." Mr. Day said and turned his chair again, and I walked out of the room.
I entered my room a few yards away from the office. I laid down on my bed and looked through the files, feeling bored just after the first letter.
"Don't worry mom." I said, but only so I could hear. "I'll get you out of here. I promise."
I was placed on a chair in front of a screen with a couple of key boards in front of me, all of them holographic. I cracked my knuckles into my palms before I placed my fingers on the dashboard. I looked around me and noticed the security cameras observing my every move, my every breath I took. I opened up the network and started to hack through the systems.
First of all, I created a one way wormhole so that I could access the files but not let them find out I had ever read them. Then I accessed the network and looked through the hundreds of names until I found the right one and accessed it.
So far so good. I thought and tilted my head to the side to stretch my neck. The next thing I did was accessing the encrypted parts of the files, and listed them in a special order. Finally, I found the right one and accessed it. It demanded a password, but after three pressed buttons I was granted entrance.
After almost an hour of hacking and searching through files, I found the security codes to the four prisons and entered them into the blinking field under the file name 'Password required'.
"All systems shut down in 124 point zero-zero hours." the program said, and I sighed in exhaust and turned off the screen and walked to the door behind me.
"Hey Mr Day, I'm done!" I called from behind the door and slammed my clenched fist into it, making it buckle a little. "Let me out, I'm tired."
The door opened and I was met by a smiling Mr Day, his eyes covered behind a pair of glasses. He held a small bottle of something reeking of alcohol in it, and handed it to me.
"Good job, my dear Amentia!" he said and sounded groggy. "Here, have a zip before you get to bed!"
I pushed him off of me and gave a soldier the bottle and dashed off to my room. I heard Mr Day call for me behind me, but I didn't listen.
He was always such a perv when he was drunk. I should know, he was drunk the first day I was taken to this place.
"One day, Mr Day." I whispered and opened the door to my room. "One day I will make you pay."
I closed the door and locked it from the inside, turning my back against it and leaning on it. My knees were shaking and my hands were trembling. I grabbed my knees and slipped down on the floor with an exhausted sigh. My breaths were shaking and my vision was getting blurry.
I hated this place. I hated having to hack into the defense-systems of our country's protectors, I hated doing illegal stuff, I hated having to listen to other people telling me what to do when I knew it all was wrong.
I had to fight the urge to just crush one of my mirrors and use one of the shards and cut myself open. I had to fight for not only my sake, but for my mother's as well. She needed me, I was the only one able to protect her.
I sighed and gathered the little energy I had left to brush my teeth and prepare for the night. I plopped down on my bed with a deep sigh and laid down on the hard mattress and thin pillow, and just stared up at the roof. I unzipped my vest a little and took out a photograph of my family, unfolding it carefully as I held it above me and let the little light in the room light it up.
I was seven years old, my sister newborn. My mother and father was sitting on a couch while me and her sat in their laps and smiled.
That was one of the last times I had smiled. A year later my entire world changed.
"Goodnight dad, June." I whispered. "Wish me luck."
I tucked away the photo and looked at the roof again. With another sigh I started to think of mom, and slowly drifted into a deep sleep.
I woke up in a cold sweat. I couldn't remember what I had dreamed, but it felt so real I must have screamed. I looked around me and recognized the metallic room the Organization had kept me in for almost eleven years now. There was just a bed, a chair and a door leading to my bathroom. They had at least granted me that when they took me there, but otherwise it was dull and felt like a prison cell.
I placed a hand to my forehead and tried to remember what I had dreamed, but my mind was clouded. All I could see was the few pictures from my eight birthday, when my dad drove the whole family home from our grandmother.
I remembered the night as if it all had happened the previous night. That night everything was perfect, and then it all went wrong.
"Amentia! Get your butt moving up to the bridge now!" I heard Magenta call from the other side of the door as she almost crushed it. I flinched and looked at the door with wide eyes before she walked away. I sighed and sat up in the bed. I rose to my feet and winced as my sleepy head still hadn't gotten used to the early mornings and late nights. I was a night person, nothing more to it.
I brushed my teeth and combed my hair before I put it up in its usual bun, putting on some makeup and placed my sunshades over my eyes.
I packed the few things I had, the mirrors, the extra pair of shades, the knuckledusters and the few photos into my pockets before I opened the door and walked out. Something told me that it would be good if I had the thing with me that morning.
The way to the bridge was harder to find than the office, since the great staircase leading there was hidden into the walls around us. I walked until I saw two henchmen walk into a secret passage, and quietly followed them. I overheard them with my great hearing, and smirked as they just talked like it was nothing or that they hadn't noticed me.
At first they just talked about all sorts of random stuff, like animals, the weather, replacing their weapons and so forth. Suddenly they changed the subject
"You heard that the boss' little pet's got a mission?" one of them said with a heavy slightly angry tone in his voice. "She's gonna infiltrate the heroes and then dump them to us."
"Why would she do that?" the other said with a puzzled tone to his voice.
"'Cause she still thinks we have her stupid mother." the first one said. I flinched, but continued to follow them to hear more.
"What? Come on, she doesn't know we finished her over ten years ago?" the second said. "Stupid dolly."
I stopped and felt my heart drop to the bottom of my chest. All this time, Mr. Day had threatened to kill her to make me say and do things I hated and had promised myself to never do.
What have I done? What have they done?
I ran towards the guys and took out my knuckledusters from their pockets before I jumped at them in a surprise attack. I kicked the first one in the back of his head and sent him hurtling into the wall and punched the next one in the stomach. I grabbed him by his collar and took off the mask covering his face and stared at him from behind my shades.
"What do you mean you finished her? Where's my mother? What did you do to her?" I yelled and shook the man above the ground to threaten him.
"I- I don't know what you're talking about!" he tried but I shook him again and felt my shades lower from the bridge of my nose. "Wait, wait, not the eyes, not the eyes!"
"Well, if you can't tell me the truth I will have a hard time keeping these babies behind the glass for much longer. So, you gonna tell me or do I have to take your sanity bit by bit?" I threatened and put a finger to the glass of the shade and slowly moved it lower and lower form my eyes, now shining with a magic and evil color of purple.
"N- no, please, I have a family!" he begged and clasped his hands. I giggled and shook him again.
"I had a family too, until you took it from me! Now tell me, and I may consider sparing you." I said and took off my shades but avoided eye contact.
"W- we killed her the night you were kidnapped! Y- you were used so boss could use your talents for the Organization!" the man stuttered and cried out when I slammed him into the floor.
"I told you I'd probably spare you." I said and giggled. "At least one person in this place can keep his promise." I then locked our gazes together and felt him struggle to get out of my grip, but once he finally looked at me his eyes went blank and drool ran down his mouth.
I followed the corridor that stretched several yards. I hid in the deepest shadows when someone approached, and from afar I could hear people find the knocked out henchmen before they alarmed the others.
I continued to walk until I saw the bridge and Mr. Day stand in front of a screen with all kinds of windows open. I braised myself for what could come and looked around myself.
"Well, Amentia. Seems that we have to do something about you, now that you know the truth." Mr. Day said and turned around to face me again. "What do you say; kill you quickly, or slowly, or let you suffer more?"
"How can I possibly suffer more than before? You took my remaining family from me, killed the one person I had left in life I could really trust... how can I possibly go through something more painful than that?" I yelled and took a battle stance before I jumped at him.
He swiftly evaded my punches and kicks, and when I spun around in a circle with my left leg out to kick him he just caught it and stopped me before he punched me in my face. I fell back to my back and felt my lungs scream against the steel floor. Mr. Day placed a foot on my chest and stomped the last of my air out of my lungs, before he leaned closer to me.
"I know exactly what. But to prevent you from doing anything, I will make this more interesting." he said in a smirk and showed me a weapon. It looked like a gun with a red orb attached to the barrel, and a weird sign was written on the handle.
"Good bye, Amentia."
He fired.
I woke up in a cold sweat. I laid inside something cold, crowded and hard, feeling a lot like stone or granite. I slowly touched the sides of the small space I laid in and felt a small gap between the opening and the rest of the small space. I managed to push it open and felt the room vibrate as I left it, and once my eyes had adjusted to the dim light of the room I saw that it wasn't a room I was in.
I was in the back of a truck, inside a heavy coffin with a red painted cross over the lid. I let it fall to the back of the truck and climbed out of it with stiff limbs and a throbbing head.
"Hey, you heard anything from the back?" a male voice said from the direction of a small window.
"Yeah, check it out." another said and knocked at the window.
"No way man, it's a dead body back there!" the first one said and sounded terrified. I swallowed and closed the lid again behind me. I crawled back behind a second crater and curled up to a ball and waited for the man to come and check on me, and froze when the window actually opened and the man climbed inside.
"Nothing odd going on here." he called to the driver and poked the lid with his weapon. "Wait! The lid's been removed!"
"What? That's impossible, the thing was dead!" the driver called and stopped the car. He then opened the door from the drivers seat and took a step outside. I could hear the sound of each step he took and held my breath as he came closer to the opening where I was.
The door opened and I jumped at the man. I kneed him in the chest and used him as a spring board to launch myself up in the air, before I ran into the dark night surrounding me.
I heard the other man fire his weapon after me and tried hard to evade them, but since it was pitch black and I was running I had no idea of where they would appear.
I felt a sharp pain in my left thigh and fell down on one knee. I looked at my leg and saw the gash from the bullet that had hit me and took a deep breath between my teeth to subdue the pain. I grabbed whatever I was wearing and ripped a part from the soft material to make a quick bandage and wrapped my leg with it before I slid down behind a small hill to evade the bullets.
"Come on, we need to get her!" one of the men said and started to run closer. I panicked and jumped up in the air again and kicked him in the head, sending him flying into the second man approaching me. They both fell to the ground and groaned in pain, and I took the chance to get out of there.
I ran as fast as I could and finally found another road, leading away from the scene. I stopped for a second and looked around me for a ride, and soon heard a car approach. I lifted my hand and waved to the car coming closer and closer, before I saw the red paint and the silver colored details covering a small car in high speed. I glanced over the whole car and noticed the rust and bumps all over the hood and the sides.
"Hiya!" the driver, a female with long blonde hair and glimmering brown eyes called from behind the wheel. "Need a ride, zombie-girl?"
"I- I'm not a-" I started but stopped. I didn't know what I was, who I was... or why I was in a coffin. I didn't know how I managed to defeat those men, or why they even wanted to fight me.
I didn't know anything about me.
"Yeah, can you drive me to closest town please?" I asked and placed myself in the car. The woman laughed and put on a cowboy hat before she stepped on the gas and drove off.
"Closest to here would be New York, so yer in luck. Hey, I'm Casey by the way, Casey Crash, lookin' for a job right now. And yer?" the woman said and gave me a hand. I looked at the road and saw a curve approach, and I somehow knew that she needed her hand to not crash in it. I quickly took it before I let go, not a word escaping my mouth. She grabbed the nob to the gear and took the curve swiftly, to then drive on a straight road.
"I'm sorry, girl, didn't catch that. What's yer name?" Casey asked again and gave me a smile. I gulped and looked out the window, thinking something out. Suddenly a small spark of pain ran through my head, and a name appeared in my mind. I carefully touched my forehead and felt the pain slowly vanish.
"Lyra." I stated and looked at her with a weak smile on my lips. "Lyra Lewis."
"Well, Lyra, I know that we will have some great time getting to know each other!" Casey said and patted my shoulder. "I'm really curious, why are you wearing a zombie dress?"
I looked down at my clothes, and saw that I wore a long white dress in a silky material, barely touching my figure but thin enough to reveal my breasts and body shape. I saw where I had teared the piece of material for my bandage and noticed that my underwear was just an inch from showing beneath it. I instantly blushed and crawled up a little in my seat. Casey laughed again and handed me a jacket from the seat behind us. I accepted it hesitantly and put it over my shoulders and felt the soft inside warm me up.
"So I take it that ya have no idea where yer goin', right?" Casey asked and looked at the road. I nodded and looked down on my hands and saw two small scars over my left thumb. They looked like animal bite marks, but I couldn't tell for sure.
"Yeah. I lost my memories." I explained and looked at the road as well. "The only thing I remember is my name and what happened before I met you now."
"Yeah?" Casey asked. "What's that?"
"Some..." I started but hesitated. Could I really tell her that I was actually chased by men with weapons? "Some men... tried to hurt me. I was locked inside some crazy coffin, and then they opened it and tried to hurt me."
"Really?" Casey asked and sounded surprised. "Wow, that's tough. Waking up, not remembering and then be hunted... it's a great thing ya met me, girl!"
"Yeah." I admitted and yawned. "How long 'til we are there?"
"The City? Maybe three hours, maybe four. You can sleep if ya wanna." Casey said and looked at her watch. "It's almost midnight, you'll need it if you're gonna find anythin' in the mornin'."
"Really? Okay, thanks Casey." I said and tilted the chair back a little, and as fast as my head was down on the headrest of the car seat I fell asleep.