I know this is said a lot but this is truly my first fanfiction. I have been an avid reader for years but have never actually had the urge to write until now. I'm considering this a pilot chapter for this story. I was inspired after watching Logan and I hope to continue writing this story. I don't have an update schedule because of my experience so it'll be touch and go until my life sorts itself out. I may end up editing this chapter later if I feel the need. I hope you enjoy.
I don't own any of the characters from the Marvel universe. This is purely a "For fun" read.
She woke to the smell of death. It permeated the air like a fog. With her enhanced senses, it was magnified tenfold. She couldn't remember what happened. One moment she was reattempting suicide the next she was in the remains of a building. An explosion? She was laying in a pile of rubble, that much she knew. Rolling her head to the side, she could see the smoke rising from several fires that hadn't had time to die out yet. Which means that whatever it was had happened recently.
A shudder ran through her as an image of a white lab coat forced her to get up. Pain would follow if she did not. A stoic expression fell on her face as she recalled a nasty incident when she physically couldn't get up after training and she was shocked until she blacked out. Taking a shaky breath, she rose and saw the remainder of the building, or lack thereof. Not a single person was in sight. The tall grass fields surrounding the demolition zone were littered with debris. Various machines all lie broken with their insides gutted and wires lying everywhere.
Standing up, she knew she couldn't stay where she was. She had been taught by Transigen that if you don't move, more pain will come. Wiping her brunette hair out of her eyes, she headed towards the distant tree line. There was no need to check for other survivors. None of her fellow cellmates had been given the same abilities as her. Their mutations didn't involve self healing skin or an adamantium skeleton. Not that she considered any of them friends, but they were the only ones who had been through similar experiences as her. She was honestly surprised she survived the explosion at all. She had underestimated the strength of her healing abilities so perhaps Transigen had as well. She would mourn for her cellmates later after she was safe. For the first time in her life, she was alone. Alone and free.
Running towards the treeline X23 realized that she had no idea what to do with her newfound freedom. This wasn't a training exercise with clear cut goals. There weren't any convoys to protect. No targets to kill. No one telling her what to do. Deciding to see how the situation developed, X23 hid in a ditch near the edge of the trees. From her vantage point, she could see the entirety of the ruins without being easily visible to anyone who may be watching her. It had occurred to her that this could be some new test that Transigen had thought up to test her, but she could smell the death of her cellmates and knew that Transigen wouldn't have wasted valuable "assets" just to test her.
Patience wasn't something X23 had been gifted with but it had been beaten into her many times by the scientist at Transigen. Transigen. The very name sent chills down her spine and made her hackles raise in anger.
To the general public Transigen is just an American company formed to explore the positive use of the mutant gene. However secret underground sections of the company were created to exploit mutant powers in any way possible and as inhumanly as they wanted. X23 knew she wasn't the first of her kind but she did overhear the doctors say that she was the only one to survive the adamantium bonding process. That was one thing that separated X23 from her cellmates, the most painful experience of her twelve years of life. Nightmares of that experience plagued her every night.
After several hours, a distant thrumming could be heard. Before long a helicopter arrived, circled the wreckage, and landed. X23 watched as a man stepped out of the helicopter followed by a group of reavers, the amputated thugs that Transigen typically used to guard their mutant projects. They do most of Transigen's dirty work and get paid in the form of high tech prosthetics. Many of them are former military men but a few bounty hunters and regular thugs are mixed within their ranks, but all of them are extremely dangerous to the average person. X23 knows she could take all of them in her prime, but currently she was still recovering from the damage of the explosion.
Hunkering down, X23 watched as the men searched the wreckage. After an hour they seemed to give up and headed back the way they came. After waiting an hour longer, X23 gave a sigh of relief and headed deeper into the forest.
When X23 was Transigen's grasp, she had hated the quiet of her cell. It gave her too much time to think. Too much time to brood over the cards she had been dealt. The quiet of the cage made her angry and often got her into trouble with the reavers which only resulted in a deep seated hatred for everything associated with Transigen.
The gentle quiet of the forest however, made X23 feel more alive than ever before. Her senses felt attuned to everything as if nature itself was apart of her. The forest calmed the beast that dwelled within her.
Walking between the trees, she thought of where she should go. She couldn't stay here because Transigen would surely find her so near to their demolished base. She remembered overhearing a reaver talking about several Transigen bases in the south. The very thought of going near them again made X23 want to cry which she did. She let the tears fall shamelessly as she trudged her way across a creek. She hated how the Transigen treated her as if she wasn't even a person. They couldn't even be bothered to give her a proper name. She was only ever called X23 like some machine.
She eventually reached a clearing and glanced at the setting sun. Putting it to her left, X23 headed away from her past and into the future.
