"Master, come on, time for your training." A little three-year-old with blond hair and dull red eyes cowered in the corner of his cage from the man in the white coat in front of him. The scary, gray-haired man who kept calling him 'son.' "Come on, son. It's okay. You'll be okay." The man unlocked the boy's cage and offered his hand. Hesitantly, small fingers curled around his hand and Master crawled out from the cage.
FLASH!
Six-year-old Master cringed and looked away. Jeb's eyes softened as he looked at the nine-year-old girl that was running the mazes. She had collapsed at the end, her feet burned, crying silently. "It's over, it's okay," Jeb said kindly, picking up the little girl. Master shuddered and looked at the girl, who wore the same white clothes as him, had the same blond hair. He gulped when he looked at his sister's tear-stained face.
FLASH!
"Take me, too!" Master shouted in desperation, but no one heard. He sat down and cried in the farthest corner of his cage, refusing to look at the door where his dad had passed just minutes ago, carrying a little toddler, five other kids - including his sister - following the man. The seven-year-old noticed his three-year-old half-brother in the hall, watching their father leave with the six experiments.
FLASH!
The needle penetrated his arm and a clear liquid was shot into his blood stream. His eyes blurred and his memories did, too, until most of them faded - the ones about his sister and the other kids that his dad had taken away. The only parts of that that remained were his father and his half-brother, Ari. He was only eight.
FLASH!
Master growled and backed away, hitting the wall, his hands curled into defiant fists. They wouldn't take this ten-year-old without a fight! A whitecoat advanced, needle of glowing stuff in hand. Master snap-kicked it across the room and crouched into a fighting position. He pounced like a cat, knocking the whitecoat to the ground. Another one came up behind him and knocked him out with a well-aimed hit.
FLASH!
"Master, help!" Flame shouted, tears streaking down her face. He moved to get her away from the whitecoats and Erasers but he was held back. "Master! Don't let them take me!" The truck that was to take her to the Institute waited right outside. Eleven-year-old Master elbowed his holder in the gut and their grip on his shoulder relaxed. He made to get Flame away from her escorts, but was thrown in the truck as well.
FLASH!
He followed a group of kids through the sewers. One of them looked familiar, but he couldn't place them. It was two months after his shipment to the Institute, and he'd already broken out with the others. Outside he and the others ran away from the dark kid that had been leading them, running into the dark New York night while Ari attacked the familiar girl in the sewers.
FLASH!
"I'm not going back!" Master shouted, kicking and punching any Eraser he saw. He was the last one still conscious with fifteen Erasers still standing. Not a fair match. He was finally knocked out and woke up in a cage at the School again. Twelve.
FLASH!
"I'll do whatever I need to! Just don't get rid of me, too," Master whimpered, looking at his dead best friend in front of him, having just been exterminated by the whitecoats. He looked pleadingly at his father, whose eyes softened, and he nodded.
"Will you serve Itex, Master?" Jeb asked, looking his thirteen-year-old son in the eye. Master nodded.
"Sure, anything," he promised. It sealed his fate as the leader of the mutant army.
I jolted into a sitting position the next morning in a cold sweat. Wiping my head, I shuddered, thinking back to my nightmare. Reliving every bad choice, every terrible thing I'd done... It scared the heck out of me! My life had been full of pain, horror, and all things that make up nightmares. Some of these weren't even scary, and all of them could be worse.
Taking shuddering breaths, I rocked back and forth on my bed. That girl that I saw so often - the one that looked a little like me... I knew her from somewhere. From where, I couldn't tell, but I still knew her. And this wasn't the first time I'd seen her. Her face haunted me every night, like a distant memory, and every morning I couldn't place it. I had told Dad and he'd said it was just an experiment from a few years ago and not to worry. It didn't help.
"Master?" A light knock on my door followed my name, before the door was opened and my dad entered. "Good, you're awake. You're needed in the meeting room - the others are there waiting. I'll explain everything on the way there." I nodded and threw some clothes on, before following my dad down the hall to the meeting room, a room specifically designed for the army. The others were there waiting, and I gave them the same speech my dad had given - we were out on our first mission: To capture run-away experiments from three years ago.
"Shush. We're not supposed to be loud," I hissed to our youngest army member, who was four. He gave me a nervous smile and stepped off of the stick...and onto another. "Oh, brother. Who the heck trained you?"
"Rylie," he whispered. That explained it! Rylie was terrible at working with us and didn't know the difference between being stealthy and being attention-grabbing.
"Well be quiet or else you'll have to go with another group," I said under my breath. I stepped over a large, brittle branch. "Just step where I step." I looked back and the little boy nodded, following in my footsteps. Literally. We resumed our silent stalk towards the clearing. The army had been on the hunt for a week now, and we'd finally managed to find the experiments. I'd had everyone spread out within a half-mile radius of the clearing and sneak nearer, closing the circle as we went. "Stop. Stay back - reinforcements," I said out of the corner of my mouth. I could barely hear the same order coming from the groups on either side of me. We were far enough away from the camp that they couldn't hear us.
"Mind blocks," I whispered into a microphone in front of my mouth. I adjusted the headset so that I could hear responses easier. I got twenty-nine 'okays'. "Move closer - stop outside the clearing. Stay quiet," I ordered. I moved closer, watching where I stepped. The light of a fire started to inch into the trees. I got to the edge of the trees and grabbed a tree branch, disappearing into the leaves. One of the seven figures around the fire looked in my direction quickly.
"What's wrong?" I heard a girl ask.
"I heard something. It must have been a bird or something, though. It was in the tree." The figure looked away, and the group around the fire was quiet again. "I'll take first watch," the same kid said a little bit later. The others grumbled 'okays' and lay down.
"Wait," I breathed into the microphone as the boy who'd heard me sat down under my tree, his eyes closed. He didn't seem to have heard me. We waited until we were sure almost all of them were asleep. "Go." I dropped from the tree, and the boy jumped up. I covered his mouth before he could shout out a warning. "Don't speak. There are twenty-nine fight-worthy mutants around the area." The boy didn't speak and I saw his hand creeping towards his pocket. "Leave it," I snarled. His hand moved away from his pocket.
By now the others had awoken by my army covering their mouths in their sleep. I held the arms of the boy to prevent his running and uncovered his mouth. He seemed pale and nervous. "Let go!" I heard snarled from one of them. It distracted me and the boy elbowed me in the stomach. I bent over, gasping for breath, and had let go of his arms.
"Come in!" I shouted into my headpiece. Ten seconds later, fifteen more kids came and joined in the fight. The others were outnumbered but still fighting for their freedom. Good job, Master. But you may want to listen to me -
Not now! I snapped, rolling away and out of an attack and towards one of my fallen friends. I put a hand to their head and they were up in a moment. Healing pads were helpful. All of us were equipped with them on our gloves. More of my army were falling and then getting healed again while the run-away experiments weren't doing so hot.
A sudden noise caught my attention. "Scatter!" I shouted into the headset, moving to the trees. But I didn't get far. Before I could get into the safety of the shadows, something grabbed the collar of my shirt and yanked me backwards. I heard someone scream. "Run! Retreat!" I shouted into the microphone before it was ripped from my head and stomped under a large foot. I winced.
I tried to warn you, the Voice said. I ignored it and tried to yank myself away from my attacker, but it was failing miserably. I was just dragged backwards by my shirt collar, which was starting to choke me.
"Get the rest of the army," a voice ordered behind me, no doubt from my captor, saying 'army' as if it were a curse word. I saw a group of wolf guys run past me, twice as many as there were in the army. The kids were dead meat...if they were found. The wolf guy holding me was starting to get cocky in the fact that I wouldn't fight back and his grip released on my collar. I managed to wriggle free and do a front-flip and land a few feet away. It had prevented him from grabbing me instantly again. I turned and looked at the wolf guy who growled and ran towards me.
Before I got rammed, I jumped over his head and landed directly behind him. In the moment it took for him to look around, confused, before facing me, I took a chance around. None of the rest of the army had been captured yet, and one of the other experiments was being held by two, and she was fighting hard. I saw a wing that was slashed deeply coming out of the back of her shirt. When the wolf guy turned towards me, I pushed a button in my glove. A compartment opened and the world's tinniest bomb - even smaller than the cherry bomb - came out into my palm, already activated. I threw it and it exploded in the wolf guy. "Ew..." I muttered, looking at the dead experiment.
These things looked oddly familiar. They had a weird name, too... Erasers! That was it. The name clicked in my brain instantly. I'd forgotten it in the fight, since it wasn't necessary at the moment. I looked down at the dead Eraser. His vest had the red 'T' for Tyron on it. Tyron was Itex's enemy - both wanted to control the world, and neither was going to do it while the other was still up. His vest reminded me a lot like my own, bullet-proof one I was wearing right now, with a blue 'I' on it for Itex.
"Oof," I grunted, getting plowed into the ground from behind. I'd forgotten about the other two Erasers still in the clearing. I felt my hands bound behind my back and my gloves taken off, taking away my healing, bombs, and computer. I growled and fought the Eraser but it didn't work all that well. I was hauled up off the ground, feeling helpless again. Until another idea came to mind. I looked at my boots and pressed a button on the toe of one with the other shoe. A dagger shot from my boot, at my back. It was made that way so that my enemy couldn't see it from the front. I moved my hands so I caught it, then slashed the Eraser's wrist. I cut the ropes binding my hands in one fluid motion. The girl looked at me suspiciously.
The Eraser holding the experiment was saying something hurriedly, making sure she couldn't get away at the same time. I made to advance towards the Eraser and claim my own prize, the experiment I'd been hunting before being attacked, when I heard a noise in the underbrush behind me. I turned quickly. Five Erasers were coming back, snarling at me. I grabbed another flying dagger from my boot and held them both at the ready. One Eraser pounced and I slashed it across the face, then stabbed it in the heart. I left that dagger inside of the Eraser and gave the others a sly grin.
"Watch out!" the girl cried, and it was almost against her will that she warned me. I turned and saw three more behind me. Dread filled my stomach...I knew this scenario too well. The training scenario - my one 'ally' was held captive and I was surrounded, outnumbered by Erasers. But that time I didn't have my weapons. Three of them attacked at once, holding me after a brief fight. The other four seemed assured that I wouldn't get away this time and left to go after my army again. My hands were bound in front of me this time, my daggers and boots taken away and thrown to one side. But I still had one more thing...my secret weapon.
At the moment, one Eraser was now holding me by the shoulder, confident that I couldn't get away without my weapons. The others had followed their friends into the trees. I reached up and hit the chest of my bullet-proof vest. Two slits opened in the back and my brown wings spread out. The Eraser backed away in shock and I took to the air. For a moment I circled, below the five figures above me that were the experiments I'd been tracking. I had to forget them for now. I had to save myself.
Before I could react, I heard a crack from below. I screamed as one of my wings was hit with a bullet, before plummeting to the ground. I heard a scream from above me, before I smashed against the ground hard and let unconsciousness take over.