CHAPTER ONE: THE ESCAPE
Deep in a forsaken desert, a castle-like fortress loomed large and imposing. The stone walls impossibly high with guards patrolling at all times. To any outside observer it looked like a prison; though any outside observer never lived long enough to wonder what went on behind the cold stone walls. The inside of the facility was as bleak and imposing as the exterior, also bearing the impression of a prison. Within the Stone walls were five buildings, Ward A, Ward B, Ward C, Ward D and the Guards Hall. The halls and breezeways were bustling with people, some in lab coats and some in full body armor carrying guns; both groups giving the other a wide berth. As though afraid of catching some horrid disease.
Business was going about as usual, smooth and precise. And as the sun began to set, two guards started to do their rounds. They went from building to building, checking to be sure no staff member or 'subject' was missing. When they approached Ward C, they both tensed and drew their arms. This was the last building to check, also the one they feared the most. Not without reason; Ward C housed the most dangerous of the facilities 'subjects' and not to mention the creepiest. The first guard sighed and knocked on the heavy steel door with a shaking hand. Both jumping slightly when they heard the locks begin to clink. The door opened with a loud creak to reveal a tired looking elderly man in a lab coat. "Here on your rounds?" the old man asked tiredly, the guards nodded nervously. "God, you two remind me of two scared little girls. I sleep in here with these monsters and you are afraid to come in and look around for five minutes?! Go get a job at JC Penny's if you're gonna act like that you pansies!" the elderly man growled. The two guards shifted nervously. "Well get in here and hurry up. We have work to do!" the man added darkly stepping aside and leading the guards down a dark corridor. They first checked the staff room, after noting all employees were present and accounted for; They moved on to the subjects. The guards shook visibly as they stalked through the halls of cages containing monsters and beasts of all sorts, all roaring and trying desperately to break free, even though they knew there was no chance of escape. Even the elderly scientist grew nervous as they approached the last cage, one that was far away from all the rest. This cell was solid metal, with only a small window to peek into, the strongest cell in the entire facility. The guards and scientist all stood at a distance, all reluctant to peek in at what was inside.
After standing there for a few minutes they were joined by another scientist, a young woman who looked upon the three grown men in disgust. "Honestly, you three are this terrified of a teenage girl, how pitiful. Here, I'll check!" the woman hissed darkly, before boldly stalking over to the cell and peeking in the small window. Her frown turned into a smile as she looked in on the small black haired girl sitting in the farthest corner away from the window, though she flinched slightly when the girl turned her bright golden eyes to her; she looked anything from happy. "Don't blame me little missy, you're the one who misbehaved! Once we feel you've learned your lesson you can go back into your room." the woman said simply, the girl narrowed her eyes in response. "Well she's in there, you cowards can leave now." the woman growled darkly, glaring at the two guards. They saluted quickly before racing out of the ward, as though being chased by the devil himself. "Rufus, I can't believe you! She's always been your favorite." the woman said pointing back at the cage. "And now you're abandoning her!"
"Well Lucy, she was. But the fact is that she is beginning to rebel, we should just kill her before she gets the chance to escape. Mark my words, she will escape. And what do you think she'll do to us when she does?" Rufus replied hotly, eying the cell with obvious concern.
"She sees us as family! And she doesn't know how to live without us, escape would be futile!" Lucy responded angrily, rubbing the cell lovingly. Rufus snorted in response.
"Please, you know she has as much affection for us as we have for her. She is just a project that was extremely successful. She is a specimen and nothing more!" Rufus roared darkly, before stomping off toward the staff room. Lucy turned back to the cell with growl and an annoyed sigh.
"Please, he's just jealous because I can handle you better." Lucy muttered darkly, partially to herself and partially to the girl inside the cell. "Sometimes it feels like I am the only smart one here. You wouldn't dare rebel against me! You only fight the others because they're all self-righteous fools. I am the mastermind behind your creation. You wouldn't rebel against me!" she repeated haughtily to herself, before stalking off toward the staff room after Rufus, still muttering darkly. The girl in the cell rose to her feet and after looking through the window to make sure Lucy was gone, she smiled evilly. Of course Lucy, she would never dare to challenge you….
The moonless night was still and dark, the guards along the walls yawned tiredly; longing for their shifts to end. One was about to nod off in his chair when the silence was shattered by the blaring of sirens. All the guards leapt to their feet and began searching for the source of the sirens. All groaning internally when they saw the flashing lights atop Ward C. Every guard instantly knew what happened. The girl had escaped.
The grounds were suddenly swarming with guards who with weapons drawn began anxiously searching the facility. Everyone was on edge, terrified of the monster who surely wanted them all dead. The scientists were being evacuated in a rush of faces and as the last of the scientists were being cleared out through the facility's heavy gates, a small group of soldiers waited patiently to be let in. These were different than the others; their armor was black compared to the regular guards gray. Only the blond man at the head of the group held a gun, the others were unarmed; they weren't the kind of people who needed weapons. After a brief conversation with one of the regular guards, the Special Squad moved in. Though even these elite soldiers shook in their boots, praying they wouldn't be successful in their search. Their leader turned to glare at them in disgust; he alone seemed unaffected by the task at hand. "You call yourselves elite soldiers! A lone teenage girl has you shaking in your boots! What a disgrace! You don't see me quivering!" he growled darkly, his dark eyes glaring daggers at his terrified unit. Though he showed no fear, inside he was as petrified as the rest of them. But his pride refused to allow him to show any unease. The idea of a commander being terrified of a teenage girl was laughable, even considering the particular girl in question. So he continued on as though he were completely unafraid. "We have orders to find and retrieve the girl alive. Though we are encouraged to do this quickly, we can take as long as we please. There is no way for her to get out, not even she can scale these walls. But the faster we find her, the quicker we get to go home. She was last seen at seven o'clock in her cell in Ward C. Since then no contact has been made with any of the staff inside, though one of them had to set off the alarm. Our first objective is to enter the Ward, find the staff and make sure all the subjects are secure. If the staff is alive, we evacuate them immediately; if they're dead, we bag 'em and tag 'em. Now, men, am I clear?" the man instructed in a commanding tone, the soldiers nodded weakly in response. "Am I clear?!" he growled, louder this time.
"Yes, sir, Commander Sullivan!" the men responded in unison. Sullivan nodded, satisfied before leading them through the throng of panicked guards to Ward C. The men were unaware of the fierce golden eyes that watched them from the shadows on the roof of Ward A. The scum tried to say she was trapped, that she could not scale these walls. Well he was wrong. He and his men were in for a big surprise when they burst open the doors of Ward C. There weren't going to be anymore evacuations.
They were only partially right when they said she couldn't scale the facility walls, she couldn't from the ground. But she could jump from the roof of Ward A and climb the remaining foot without breaking a sweat. The main problem was that the second she got over the wall they would see her. But she was confident their utter shock would delay them just enough for her to make her escape. With a sigh she glared down at her blood covered hands, then with one final look at the place that had been her prison as long as she could remember, she leapt from the roof. In mere seconds she was outside the fortress walls, and ignoring the shocked swearing of the men patrolling the walls she took off at full speed through the desert. A second later, a cloud of dust was the only evidence of her flight.
The girl ran with all of her energy, doing her best to put as many miles as possible between her and her pursuers, her path a bizarre and confusing trail of zigg-zaggs and loops. She knew the elite squad was probably hot on her trail, and if she didn't act soon they would have her within the hour. But lucky for her, she knew their tracking methods better than they did. She had already dug the tracker out of her arm so they couldn't find her that way, now their only method of tracking was by following her trail. All she needed was to find a road or a river, and then she could ditch them with ease. But both were nearly impossible to find in this barren desert, especially in the dark of the moonless night. Though it was good it was so dark, the shadows would hide her. When the sun rose it would be impossible to hide under its bright exposing light. That was if they would still need to track her by sight. The Control probably would have worn off by then, and nothing would be able to hide her then. She groaned and whipped the sweat off of her forehead tiredly, it was unbearably hot. Maybe she should have waited for winter before making her escape…..
The girl was about to give up on anyway of diverting her trail when she found what she had been looking for, a nice deep river. It was a bit too narrow for her taste but it would have to do. With an exclamation she dove into the water and began to swim downstream. Downstream was the obvious choice, being the fastest and easiest, but they would assume she took the harder path in order to confuse them. They weren't used to pursuing those who were just as good at tracking as they were.
About an hour later, Sullivan and his team arrived at the river; He let out a few choice swears before turning to his team. "Which way do you think she went?" he asked them, grinding his teeth in frustration. One of his team raised their hand. "Yes?"
"Probably downstream sir, so she wouldn't have to fight the current." the man said confidently, the others nodded.
"You do realize she had the exact same training as us, right? You don't think she knew we'd think that!" Sullivan growled in annoyance, another soldier raised his hand. "Yes?!"
"But she may also be relying on us to consider that and go upstream, sir. We should send teams both ways." the soldier replied wisely, the men all shouted in agreement.
"Do you morons have any Idea how many forks there are in this river? It would take hundreds of us to investigate every possible trail. This is a waste of time. The control is going to wear off soon, and when it does it'll be easy to track her down. We'll just head back to H.Q. and wait until then." Sullivan said with a sigh, pressing a button to signal the helicopter. She'd just signed her death warrant, at this point being taken alive was no longer an option. The boss would want her head on a platter.
After swimming a good few miles downstream, never taking any of the random forks in the stream, the girl let out a deep groan in response to a roar of water before her. She was coming up on a waterfall, and it sounded like it was a pretty far fall. She treaded water a minute and pondered whether she should get out and continue on foot or just ride out the waterfall. She was confident she could survive it, but not entirely sure she would come out unharmed. But after a minute she decided to stay in, if they somehow followed her this far they would never think she would pull a stunt like this. And besides, it might be fun. With a heavy sigh she let the current take her, and in minutes she was plummeting down the waterfall with a scream. Landing with a smack on her back.
"I am never doing that again." she muttered darkly, rubbing her throbbing back when she bobbed to the surface. The burning of salt water in the wound in her arm telling her that the river had taken her straight to the sea, she looked up at the sky; there was the slightest tinge of gold in the horizon, it was nearing dawn. Looking around she guessed she was in some sort of gulf, and on the other side was a huge city, a great place to lay low for awhile. She needed some food and a place to rest, with a delighted chuckle she swam towards the city. Passing a small island on her way to the city, the huge T shaped building instantly catching her attention. It was Titan's Tower, so she must be going toward Jump City. How convenient, she was going to the city they would never expect her to go. The city she was born to destroy.