Flight to Freedom Chapter 10:
Scientists flanked her on each side as they led the new experiment down the blinding white hallways.
By time they made it to their destination, she felt as if she had walked through a labyrinth. They paused at the door, tightening their grip on the chains that encircled her light brown arms. Her harsh orange eyes glared at the door, as if to melt it down to the ground.
The taller scientist opened the large metal door while the other shoved the girl inside. As she hit the ground with a muffled thud, her newly heightened senses caught the smell of another cat. Looking up, she found herself in a large arena, about the size of a hockey stadium. The seats lining the wall made it feel like a real one.
Standing in the middle of the field, beating the stuffing out of a humanoid dummy was another experiment, a boy. Sweat was rolling down his pale face, sticking his light brown hair to his forehead. He couldn't have been any older than she was, making him about 9 or 10.
Suddenly, he stopped, noticing that he was being watched by the two orange-gold eyes. Standing up straight, he eyed his new companion with wary ice blue eyes. It was only then that the girl noticed that his light brown hair hid his tall serval ears well. His tail curled against his backside.
The girl felt herself being shoved into the middle of the arena, the scientist's cold hands piercing through her thin jacket. Huffing, she stood tall and walked toward the boy, eyes narrowing as she got closer.
"This," the scientist said, gesturing to the girl," is experiment 29. She shall be your new training partner." The boy's eyes glanced over the girl as the scientist walked away. Satisfied, he gave a small smile and held out his hand. "My name is Richard, but everyone calls me King."
The girl looked at him for a moment before shaking his hand. "Topaz."
TimeSkip~ 2 years later
A muffled thud was made as King once again hit the ground. '23.' "Again." Was all that Harris said, dark eyes evaluating the two. The boy looked up to his "Rival." Topaz had barely moved from her starting stance, orange eyes staring back at his blue ones.
King got up and back into his fighting stance, attacking as soon as the whistle sounded. Once again, he was thrown back by the panther girl who once again had barely moved. He got up. Taking a different approach, King stayed still after the whistle sounded.
The two combatants circled each other slowly, trying to read each other's next move. For almost five minutes, neither made so much as a flinch toward the other. Dr. Harris began to get impatient. "One of you, attack!"
In a flash, Topaz had stepped around her partner, wrapped her tail around one of his legs, effectively spinning him to face her, before delivering a punch to his forehead. Disoriented, King couldn't see Topaz as she brought her arm up in a choking neck hold, spinning him again and pinning him to the floor.
That day, he officially decided, King would do whatever it takes to beat the invincible Cat-Girl.
They would always be rivals.
In the end, we somehow decided to keep this a secret from Fury until we found Marley and brought her back. On the bright side, the Avengers would be taking a trip to Germany to find the others and bring them back.
The downside? We-the "Children" as Steve called us now- had to stay here in the tower. Bruce would be staying here to watch over us as the others got to have all the fun. I didn't mind so much, as I had better things to deal with. It was Shuffle and Chauncey who had problems with this.
Shuffle, whom had grew quite fond of the bird-girl's company, was now restless and wanting to find her soon.
Chauncey was always restless, so nothing was new with him. Snowflower had taken to following Banner around, fondly calling him "Mr. Bruce." He didn't seem to mind, as Snow didn't interfere with his lab work. Ivy was usually either bothering me, asking my opinion on Firefly's disappearance or about what to do.
Magenta only stayed in her room, watching TV and muttering about some nonsense. She was completely immersed in the cheesy old soap operas that played in black and white, uncaring about the outside world.
With the other Avengers stayed at the Helicarrier for now, preparing for their espionage, Chauncey got bored pretty easily. So when he came to me with one of his signature devilish grins, I knew it could mean nothing but trouble.
"No." The boy hadn't even gotten a word out before I rejected his unspoken idea. I was in Magenta's room, playing company to the girl as we made fun of the melodramatic characters on screen. The Tasmanian boy stood in the door frame, puffing out his cheeks at my response.
Daring to come into the room, he made his way to my side, crouching down with his hands clasped tight as if her were saying his prayers. "But Topaz," He whined. "You didn't even give me a chance to explain." I shook my head, eyes still following the actors on screen. "Fine, what is it?" Grinning, he stood up as if to present a speech.
"So, Tony said that we can't leave the tower unless we have a responsible adult with us, right?" I nodded. "So, why don't we go exploring around the city?" "Yeah, one problem. Where are you going to find an adult dumb enough to let us out?"
His grin got wider, if that was even possible. Placing his hand on his hip, he pointed at me. "You, Topaz are responsible. So you should come with us to explore the city and find something fun to do!"
Magenta, from her spot on the bed, snorted. "No offence, but Topaz isn't responsible for you, nor is she an adult." It was true. I'm only 14. "Besides, who is 'we'?" He held up 4 fingers. "It'll be all four of us! As soon as I ask Ivy. And as soon as Snowflower agrees." He mumbled that last part to himself. "What about Shuffle?" I asked.
Chauncey shook his head, black strands shaking wildly. "He's too worried over the adults and Firefly. He won't be any fun to be around."
Magenta shook her cloak clad head. "I don't want to go anywhere." "And neither do I. Sorry bud, your idea has been rejected." I concluded, putting my attention back to the soap opera, where someone was crying about her boyfriend walking out on her.
Chauncey looked crestfallen but he doesn't give up that easily. He got up from the bed, snatching up the remote as he went, turned off the TV, and booted out the door. Magenta was already in pursuit before I realized what happened. "Hey!" I heard her shout.
Quickly following behind, I managed to get out the door just as I saw the Tasmanian boy grin at me as the glass doors to the elevator close and he descended. Taking the stairs, we followed the boy down to the living area making a mess of the kitchen as he jumped from counter to counter.
As he landed on the couch, I stretched out my sharp nails, meaning to frighten him as he moved away at the last minute. I jumped off the couch, ripping the luxury leather seats as I followed the boy in pursuit. We followed him through each and every one of the rooms, creating a mess wherever we went. The boy was still waving the remote around, taunting us as he did so.
Ivy was calmly reading a book she found when we came clambering in. The Tasmanian devil boy jumped on her back before jumping off. "Hey!" Ivy's green eyes flashed, angered by the action. Leaping onto the couch she was sitting on I screamed. "Get that remote!"
Nodding, she made haste to chase after the boy, stumbling over the things he had thrown in my sister's way. Shuffle overheard the scuffle going on in the other room and looked in to peek. Chauncey, seeing his chance, leapt at the boy, bringing Shuffle flat on his back before bouncing off to the elevator, headed toward the lab-where Banner and Snow were.
Taking the stairs two at a time, I told JARVIS not to mention the mess we made to anyone. Surprisingly, he complied.
We reached the lab just after Chauncey shot out of the elevator, maneuvering around the metal tables filled with glass bottles. In the corner of the lab, Banner had on headphones, not noticing anything until Snow tapped him and pointed to Chauncey standing on one of the tables, triumphantly waving the remote as he did.
"Ha! I win!" He shouted, letting his guard down. Leaping on to one of the tables, I let out a yelling battle cry as I leapt at the boy, missing by a foot. I landed on the edge of the table, my weight and momentum flinging the boy (and the bottles filled with unmarked liquids) across the room. "Guys! Stop!" Banner's voice was lost within the sounds of the battle of the remote between me and Magenta, and Chauncey.
Bruce kept shouting out to us, trying to move his way through the mess that we had made in our fight.
Deciding to finally end this, I gave one sharp tug of the remote before grabbing Chauncey's small wrist, twisting it behind his back and kicking him to the ground. Huffing, I handed the remote to Magenta who gave a small victory cry before being silenced by another yell.
Banner's lab coat was being torn apart as he began to grow larger and… greener? Horrified, Snow quickly shimmied against the wall and hurried over to me, eyes wide in fear as we watched Banner change.
"What's happening?" Shuffle screamed over the angry yells of the green Banner.
Chauncey could only stand staring at the now 8 foot green muscle man, frozen in fear. Attentive, Shuffle pushed Snowflower, Chauncey, Magenta and Ivy back into the stairway. "Go! Get upstairs quickly!" Ivy now taking charge coaxed the two youngest children, claiming that it will be alright.
Letting my canines grow out to look like fangs, I stood beside Shuffle ready to attack if needed. "What exactly are we up against?" He asked, waiting to attack. I glanced over to him, orange eyes meeting silver.
"A monster."
End of Chapter 10!
Thank you all for reading Flight to Freedom and putting up with my changes in the story! Stay tuned for Chapter 11!
"All monsters have their fits of depression."- Rachilde
~EndingDream6560