It was early the next morning when Jack woke up. Getting up from the couch he'd fallen asleep on, he made his way upstairs, avoiding stepping on Cody who had probably fallen from the chair, or like sleeping with his back on the floor and his legs against the chair. He glanced into Amy's room, where Tyson and Miranda were recovering. He also saw Amy sleeping in a chair, her wings hanging out over the arms.
"And I thought I was the only one who was up," Shannon yawned, walking into the room and checking the bandages.
"It was kinda hard to sleep on the couch with Cody and Sean snoring," Jack said, leaning against the door frame. "So, are they going to be waking up soon?" he asked, seeing Amy stir with a groan.
"I did the best I could with healing, so they'll just wake up when they're ready. Hopefully while we're not at school," Shannon said, taking the bandages off to reveal scars on Tyson's chest and arms.
"He's lucky he wears those wristbands," Jack noted, glancing at the scars on Tyson's wrists as they were un-bandaged. He looked at Amy, who was stretching as she got up.
"Believe me, he never leaves home without those things," she muttered, folding her wings against her back, about to leave, when the three of them heard a groan, looking around to see Tyson trying to get up.
"Uh, what happened? All I remember is getting stabbed in the chest before I blacked out," he said, looking at his shirt to see various tears made by a knife. "And this was my best shirt," he muttered not hearing Amy mutter "Well he's recovering."
As everyone started to wake up, Tyson levitated downstairs, seeing his wristbands on a small table. "Good thing I wear these things or people'll get ideas," he muttered, turning around to see Sean standing behind him, a mischievous smirk on his face.
"How well did killing yourself go?" he joked.
"Shut up before I kill you instead," Tyson said with a similar smirk as he pulled his wristbands on. The two of them heard someone stir upstairs, Tyson using super speed to be in Amy's room within a second. He saw that Miranda was awake and sitting up.
"You okay. I mean, you look like you've taken a worse beating than me," Tyson said, sitting on Miranda's bed next to her.
"I'm okay. Thanks for...for sticking up for me last night. I'm sorry I got you involved," she whispered, feeling a hand on hers again.
"I got involved because I wanted to help you. It was never your fault," Tyson said, trying to keep his reassuring look while he looked into her violet hue eyes. They were brought back to reality when a clatter was heard downstairs, along with someone complaining.
"Who sleeps like that overnight?! You were practically asking to be stepped on!" Stephen almost yelled at Cody while he rubbed his sore head.
"Why didn't you look where you were going?! Jack, Shannon and Sean were able to!" Cody retorted, his eyes glowing yellow while Stephen's hands glowed green.
"If you two fight, you are paying for whatever get's broken!" Amy shouted, a force field around the two of them. Relenting, they went to get ready for school, planning to get their school books on the way.
"Who do we tell anyone about our powers or do we keep them hidden from everyone?" Gale asked, yawning. She had been woken up by Cody and Stephen's argument, and wasn't on the best of moods.
"Let's not tell anyone unless we have to, especially you sis," Tyson said, pointing a finger at Amy.
"I just hope no-one decides to tick me off today," Cody said, flying through the air in a way that made the group of friends laugh. "I just hope Miranda will be okay, seeing as it's her first day," Sean said, everyone else nodding.
"Okay, so where am I supposed to go now?" Miranda asked herself, wandering around the school lost. Some people stared at her because of her looks, but she ignored them and kept walking.
"Hey, new kid!" someone shouted at her. She glanced back to see two boys, taller and older than her and obviously popular, smiling at her with smirks she wanted to punch off their faces.
"What?" she said, trying not to make a bad impression on them.
"Nice clothes, but Halloween's a few months away," one of them said, making a few kids walking by snigger. Turning around quickly, Miranda kept walking, wishing she'd stayed with Tyson or Shannon or someone she trusted.
"Hey creepy, I think you could help me scare these annoying girls away," another boy said, backing away as Miranda glared venom at him as well as letting a small growl escape her mouth before she walked into a girl who obviously read too many fashion magazines.
"What do you want?" Miranda said monotonously, not caring what impression she made.
"I just wanted to tell you that I saw you hanging out with Tyson and those guys. If you want to be cool, then you really should avoid them," the girl said, not noticing the daggers Miranda was glaring at her.
"And be a stuck up she-witch like you?" Miranda said, catching the girl by surprise.
"Alright fine then. But just to let you know, no-one would like a creepy, unsocial Goth. Or should that be emo?" the girl said in an annoying high pitched voice, seeing the scars on Miranda's wrists. Before she could react, Miranda had her hand on her throat, her teeth now resembling fangs and her eyes threatening.
"You have no idea what I've been through airhead, so if you ever say anything like that about me or any of my friends again, you'll die a slow and very painful death," Miranda said in a deathly whisper, sending chills through the hallway before walking away.
"Since when would someone like you have friends? Never in your life! I bet your own parents are ashamed of you!" the girl said, making Miranda freeze on the spot as she felt pangs on her heart, tears coming to her eyes. "That's not true, I know it isn't," she said before walking on, trying not to cry.
Classified location in China
All she could do was run like crazy, keeping to the shadows as much as she could. Kate's dark clothing made it easier, along with her training in martial arts. Her two samurai swords were sheaved by her side, her hand close to them in case she encountered a guard.
"Halt! You will return to your cell now!" a guard yelled, aiming his weapon at her. The ten or so guards behind him did the same. Kate merely smiled, her dark eyes giving nothing away.
"Make me," she said flatly, pulling out her swords as bullets fired. With unnatural speed, she blocked each bullet, her swords flashing blurs in the spotlight. Eventually, the guards had to reload, and when the moment came, she leapt above the guards, landing in the centre before she swiped through each gun, slicing them in half.
"Can't hit me with those clunky things can you?" she said before running towards a wall. She looked to the right, seeing a large building with no lights on. Curious, she ran to it before the guards could see her.
"If there's no guards here and no lights on, then what's in here?" she asked herself, kicking the door open. She walked in to find a bare room, an operating table in the centre. Turning on the lights, she saw something lying on hit. It was a tall, bulky man, or a boy younger than eighteen since that was the only age group kept in the prison.
He looked normal enough, except his shoulders wore huge shoulder pads, a Greek symbol on the left one. The boy's lower arms were wide, rounded metal armour, mainly red with a black stripe above and below the arm. A large yellow ring with small spikes were at the wrists, while hands had been replaced with large metal claws as sharp as knives.
"I'm sorry about what suffering you had to go through," Kate said, turning to leave, when she heard a metallic clunk.
"At least it was worth it in the end," the boy said, sitting upright and looking at her with green eyes. With little effort, he jumped off the table, landing silently despite the bulk and weight of his arms, with a smirk that said he was powerful.
"Who are you? What are you?" Kate asked, jumping away as guards broke into the room, all weapons aimed at her.
"Who I am is project E-123, but my name is Omega, considering the symbol," the boy said, seeming to ignore the guards and guns as he pointed to the symbol on his left shoulder pad. "As for what I am," he started to say, letting his claws retract and two large Gatling guns take their place, then finished "I'll let my little friends her tell the story," and opened fire, aiming at the roof and causing it to collapse and bury the guards.
"Okay, I have to admit that's impressive," Kate said, pulling out her two swords and running over the rubble, Omega close behind. "Man, he's fast and graceful considering the side of those arms and the guns," she thought, then saw a pair of small jets on Omega's waist to help him move fast and presumably fly.
She was right about Omega being able to fly, for as soon as he came close to the wall, his jets fired strong blasts, launching him over the wall. Kate however, looked like she'd run right into it, and there were guards behind her that had all weapons aimed and ready. She closed her eyes, waiting for the bullets to fire or the crash into the wall.
Just as she came millimetres too close, she felt a burning sensation run through her being, and then opened her eyes to feel herself disappear into the wall and reappear on the other side. When she looked at Omega, he saw his eyes wide, then a grin on his face.
"So that's why you're locked up here. By the way, if we wait, there's about four others escaping right this second," he said, looking at his wrist as if he had a watch and tapping his foot.
"Are you sure the twins can distract the guards long enough?" a girl with tanned skin, short black hair and a red and black sleeveless top that stopped below her chest, a red miniskirt and a long black tail along the front. She also had white gloves with a black sleeve and a red belt holding it up. She was wearing red shoes with a black arrow pointing to her toes, and was wearing knee length white socks with a red top and black stripe. With red sunglasses on her head, her dark blue eyes looked at the boy in front of her.
"What are ya worried about Honey, of course they can," the boy said. He had dark green eyes, the front half of his hair black and with long black spikes, while the other half was green and spiked like Sonic the hedgehog. He wore a black jacket, and green jeans, his shoes black with a spike at the ankle and black fingerless skater gloves. His name was Ashura.
Almost like clockwork, a stream of fire rained down on the compound, the source a boy with goggles in his fiery orange hair, a shirt with the top half orange, bottom half black, orange jeans with the trouser legs a creamy yellow colour, his shoes the same colour of orange as his shirt. Immediately after, a strong wind came from a boy with the same clothes as the other, except the orange areas were cobalt blue. His hair was the same colour with a pointed down triangular fringe and two parallel yellow stripes that were above halfway across his eye.
"Nicely done, now let's get outta here," Ashura said, already running to the wall.
"What did ya think of that distraction?" the boy in orange, nicknamed Jetfire, asked, a smirk on his tan face.
"More like a light show and fireworks," the other flyer, Jetstorm, muttered, his pale face in a look of disinterest.
"Come on, let's just find Kate and get as far from here as we can get!" Ashura shouted, stopping a potential argument between the twins.
