Author's Note: Ok I'm back. So this chapter is set up a little differently as we have some new character pov's we've also got some reveals in here. Anyway as always I don't own anything and I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 3

The Community of Mercy Clinic

It took her the best part of two hours but eventually she was able with some help from Anna-Marie to calm Glow down. The three of them were all currently sitting together eating a less than appetizing meal of cold baked beans from cans. There was a tense silence in the air, thick and heavy, weighing down on them all.

"Ok." Clarice started once everyone was finished. "One of you needs to explain. If Reeva isn't in charge then who is?"

Clarice looked between the two of them. Glow just looked away and stared stubbornly at the wall instead, clearly still upset with Clarice. So instead Clarice stared Anna-Marie down. After a moment she sighed and then answered.

"Look its like we said before we don't know much, not about the attack or what happened after. What I can tell you is this. Right after we lost contact with Erg the wall appeared around DC and it became very obvious very quickly that it was impenetrable. We were all just left to wonder what the hell had happened. Then she released a news alert nationwide."

"She?" Clarice asked curiously.

"Her name is Selene. Other than that we don't know much about her. In the news alert she announced that she had taken DC under her control and that she was now its sole ruler. She also said that Reeva was dead and that if we didn't obey her and kneel to her we would end the same way. Then she asked if anyone wanted to see just how Reeva met her end, she bought out a man and...and..." Anna-Marie seemed unable to finish the sentence she just shook her head, a terrified look in her eyes.

"She killed him?" Clarice asked trying to sound as calm as possible. Anna-Marie simply nodded her head. There was obviously more to the story, something horrific, so bad it was unspeakable but Clarice knew now wasn't the time to get into it, Anna-Marie and Glow were scared enough as it was.

"Clarice you have to understand something. We might not know much about Selene but this we do know. She's not the kind of woman to back down. If she wants something nothing will stop her from getting it. She has no line that she will not cross. She's not going to call off this search. Ever. And we can't stay here forever sooner or later we're going to run out of supplies. Maybe we should just hand ourselves in, maybe she'll be merciful if we don't draw out the search?" Anna-Marie tried to reason.

Clarice shook her head. "No that won't work. I might not know much about your world or Selene but one thing I do know is that any person that would go to these lengths to gain control and who would kill a man during a live broadcast isn't going to show us mercy. Our only option is to try and find a way to let John and the others know we're here and then wait for him to find us."

"But how are we going to do that? I'm sorry Clarice but we don't even know if John and the rest of the Mutant Underground are even still alive. Let alone in a position to find us." Glow finally broke her silence.

"That may be true, but we have to have faith that they are." Clarice answered.

"Why? Why should we have faith?" Glow challenged with a shrug.

"Because right now it's all we have." Clarice looked them both in the eye. "Faith and each other. We have to stick together now and have each others backs. Right?" After a moment of silence Glow and Anna-Marie finally nodded. Clarice smiled at them both in gratitude. "Come on we should get some rest while we can?" With that the three of them curled up together in a circle on the floor. None of them really slept, if it wasn't the sirens keeping them awake then it was the sound of boots and voices as they passed near the building. At one point Clarice was fairly sure that someone had come into the Clinic, she could hear them throwing furniture about as they searched every nook and cranny. Luckily they never found the hidden room where they were all huddled together. It was going to be a long few days.

Trask Industries Reconditioning Compound. 2 Days Later

She kept her eyes glued to the screen in front of her. She was scanning every image closely looking for anything at all that seemed suspicious. It had been two days since the breach of the wall and there had been no sign of the intruder anywhere. The pressure was mounting as was the tension. Her team were getting tired and the excitement at the idea of a powerful mutant turning up had began to wear off. They had to find this mutant.

Letting out a huff of impatience at again coming up with nothing, she rubbed her eyes and then turned to the room. "Ok listen up everyone. I know you're tired. We've all been working long hours and I know its disappointing that we haven't found anything yet. But the intruder is out there somewhere. This city has cameras pretty much everywhere. There are only so many places they can hide. So dig deep and stay focused. Report anything you find to me no matter how small it may seem." There were affirming nods about and what seemed to be a renewed burst of energy in the room as the team got back to work. All she could do was pray they got something and soon.

"Ma'am." She turned to the guard behind her nodding for him to continue. "He wants to see you."

"Ok, keep an eye on things her for me please." Her colleague nodded to say he understood and she turned and left the room. It didn't take her long to reach his office.

"Well?" He asked as soon as she entered.

"We're still looking, it's...it's just taking some time. There's alot of footage to get through. We'll find them I promise." She informed him with as much confidence as she could muster.

He sat silently for several moments, his brow furrowed. Before he nodded to himself and looked back up at her. "Ok, keep looking , there's only so many places they could be. And keep me updated. I don't need to tell you how important this is. We can't fail."

"I know you can trust me with this. I won't let you down that I promise." She assured him fiercely.

He gave her the tiniest ghost of a smile, a rare thing from him. "Oh I know." She gave him a smile back and then suddenly there was a loud knocking on the door. "Come in" He called. One of the men from her team came bursting in, out of breath and with an urgent but satisfied expression on his face.

"Sir, Ma'am I think we might have gotten something."

The Community of Mercy Clinic

Clarice was dismayed at how quickly they had run out of food. They needed more supplies and soon or they wouldn't have to worry about getting caught, they'd starve to death first. "Ok." She got the attention of her two friends. "There is a store right across the street. It's small but they keep some of their stock in a room in the back. It has an entrance that backs onto the same alley that this Clinic does. It's not far, actually you can see the door from the main hall. I say now that it's dark we sneak over there and grab a few bits to keep us going."

"I don't know Clarice, it's risky leaving this room let alone the building." Glow pointed out.

"But if we do nothing we'll starve." Anna-Marie countered. "We have to do something."

"Ok" Glow agreed reluctantly. "But still it's going to look real suspicious if all three of us are spotted skulking around an alley way in the dead of night."

"Which is why only one of us should go." Clarice answered. They both looked at her worriedly.

"Split up? I don't know if I like the idea of that." Glow wrung her hands anxiously.

"No Clarice is right. One person is much less likely to be spotted than a small group." Anna-Marie remarked.

"Ok well then I'll go." Glow suggested. But Clarice quickly shook her head.

"Uh-Uh I'm the one that got us into this mess. I'm the one that's going to go."

Before Glow had the chance to argue back Anna-Marie interjected. "Let's get real here. I'm the one that needs to go." As Clarice and Glow went to protest Anna-Marie held up a hand to silence them. "It has to be. Think about, the two of you used to live in the city. There's a chance you might get recognized by someone. Out of the three of us I'm the one whose going to look the most like just another face in the crowd. I have a better chance of blending in." Clarice tried to think of some argument she could use against but she had nothing. Truth was she made sense. Seeing the look of resignation on their faces Anna-Marie nodded. "Ok its settled. Show me where this door is."

Clarice carefully lead the way out of the secret room and to the main hall of the clinic. She lead them to the back wall and pointed through the window. "That door there. That will lead you into their stock room. The locks real crappy so it shouldn't be too hard to pick. Do you know how to pick a lock?" Clarice looked over at Anna-Marie. She nodded her head in affirmation.

"Is it alarmed?" Glow asked. Clarice shook her head.

"It shouldn't be it's just a small family run business, they don't really have the budget for an alarm system." Noticing their uncomfortable looks Clarice sighed. "Yeah I know guys I don't feel great about stealing from a nice family who are barely staying above the bottom line either. But what other choice do we have, trying any of the bigger warehouses would be too risky." They both half nodded and half shook their heads. She knew exactly how conflicted they were feeling she was feeling it too.

"Well there's no time like the present." Anna-Marie stated. "I'll see you guys soon. You should probably get back to the hideout."

"No" Clarice answered. "We'll stay and play look out. At the very least we might be able to create a distraction if somebody looks like their getting to close to finding you." Anna-Marie nodded then with a quick hug to them both she crept out the double doors and into the night. They watched as she made her way to the store keeping closely to the shadows. Then after a moment of fiddling with the lock she slipped through the door and disappeared from their sight.

Trask Industries Reconditioning Compound

Entering the surveillance room they saw that it was a buzz with activity. "What have we got?" She asked as they briskly moved towards one of the screens.

"There." One of her men, Thomas, pointed at a woman on the screen. She was in an alley way behind the Community of Mercy Clinic. She appeared to be carrying something in her arms and she had a rucksack on her back.

"A woman in an alley, what's suspicious about that?" She asked. "She's probably just heading home after shopping." Thomas shook his head.

"I don't think so Ma'am. About 5 minutes ago we caught her on cctv breaking into that shop. Looks like she was stealing food and water."

She felt a spark of excitement go through her looking over she saw the same expression on her leader's face too. "Makes sense, if she's the fugitive then she's been hiding out for a couple of days now. She's probably run out of supplies, she'd have no other choice but to steal." He explained. "Do we have people in the area?" He asked.

Thomas grinned and nodded his head. Speaking into a headpiece he sent the order. "All units respond, Location is the alley behind the Mercy Clinic. Target is female, approx 5ft 5. Red hair, wearing dark clothing and carrying a black rucksack." The anticipation hung in the air as they all stared transfixed at the events playing out on the screen. This was it they had finally got them.

Anna-Marie's POV

She moved much slower on the way back. She was weighed down by the bottles of water she was carrying in her arms and being very careful not to make the cans in her rucksack clang together too much. She was also trying to stick to the shadows at the base of the walls as much as she could. Still she was nearly there. She could see Clarice and Glow keeping watch over her from the clinic window.

Then just when she thought she was going to make it armed men stormed into the alley. The were wearing black combat pants and flak jackets. Their faces were covered with masks and they were carrying assault rivals. Before she could even let out a scream they had grabbed hold of her and as they threw a dark sack over her head she took one last quick glance at the window. Thankfully her friends were no longer in sight.

She was bundled into the back of a van, her heart racing, she felt pain shoot up her knees and her shoulder as she hit the hard surface. She tried to keep track of how many turns they took and how long the journey took but the hood on her head made her feel so disoriented. So instead she tried really hard not to let panic creep in and take over.

She lost track of time but at some point the van came to a standstill and she was pulled out and dragged some distance before she was pushed down into a chair and her hands were cuffed to it.

As they pulled the hood from her head she squinted her eyes and tried to get some bearing of where she was. The room was gloomy and dimly lit. There were two armed men on either side of her and two more guarding the lone door. Other than the chair she was restrained to there was nothing else in the room.

A sudden clicking sound of heels against concrete caught her attention. Then a woman entered the room. She had a fair complexion and shoulder length blonde hair. Her eyes were a frosty blue. Anna-Marie felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She was in serious trouble and so were her friends. Gulping down a deep breath she straightened her back as much as possible. Trying to appear braver than she felt.

"I know who you are." She barked at the woman before she had the chance to speak.

"Oh?" The woman replied simply. Anna-Marie looked her defiantly in the eye.

"Yes, so which Frost sister are you? Esme, Phoebe or Sophie?"

Frost just smiled slowly and waved her hand. "It doesn't really matter." She slowly approached Anna-Marie's chair.

"I'm not going to tell you anything so you might as well just kill me." She lifted her chin stubbornly.

This only seemed to amuse Frost. "Calm down now. Besides we both know I don't need you to talk, I can just look into your mind. Besides I just have a few little questions. Like why you were stealing from a store. After all we live in a brave new world where all mutants are free, we want for nothing so what would you need to steal for?" Anna-Marie couldn't be sure but for a moment she thought she could hear a little bitterness in Frosts tone as she talked about the mutant homeland. "Unless of course you're the mutant that somehow managed to get past the wall."

Anna-Marie tried to keep her face and her thoughts as neutral as possible. "I don't know what you're talking about." She spat back.

"Ok then I guess we're doing this the hard way." Frost's eyes began to glow a neon blue. Shining brightly in the dimness of the room. Anna-Marie felt hypnotized by them like she couldn't look away. She could feel something probing at her mind, it was a strange sensation one she couldn't really explain. It didn't hurt but it didn't feel comfortable either. Gritting her teeth Anna-Marie tried desperately to fight her off. Images from her life flashed through her mind. Erg, the tunnels in Pittsburgh, childhood memories. She could feel Frost getting dangerously close to her friends. She pulled on the last of her strength and pushed with her mind.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" She cried out feeling pressure build in her head before it suddenly broke and her mind was her own again. She saw Frost wincing and rubbing her temples.

Leaning down to look her dead in the eye Frost smiled. "That's ok I got enough for now." Patting her in the cheek she then turned and left the room. Leaving Anna-Marie to wonder if she had managed to keep her friends and their hiding spot out of her thoughts long enough.

Frost's POV

Her head felt like it was splitting open, there was no worse sensation than someone pushing her from their mind. Still she had got some useful information though she now had more questions than she did answers. Reaching the office she knocked on the door and entered when he called out.

He lent forward in his chair when he saw her. "Hey so what did you find out?" He asked eagerly.

"It's a good news/ bad news scenario I'm afraid." He looked at her questioningly. "She's not the mutant that got past the wall." She explained quickly.

"Are you sure?"

Nodding her head she continued. "I was able to get some information from her mind. She has healing abilities and it seems like she was one of the Morlocks."

"I was under the impression all the Morlocks that survived The Massacre had been rounded up."

"Well that's the interesting part she's not from the DC tunnels, she's from Pittsburgh."

"So she might not be the mutant who was able to beat the Wall's defenses but..."

"But she knows where that mutant is yes, I'm sure of it. Whoever they are she's trying really hard to protect them. She actually pushed me out of her mind."

"I need you to find out where and who this mutant is. What abilities they have that allowed them to get past the wall. Look into her mind again."

"Well I can try but I don't know how effective that will be, like I said she was able to push me out. Without my sisters I'm just not as strong." She tried to explain desperately a twinge of sadness sweeping through her as she thought of her sisters.

"I'm not looking for excuses Esme, I want results." After a moment of tense silence he sighed shaking his head. "I'm sorry to sound harsh, but Selene wants this mutant so we have to find them."

Esme nodded her head in understanding. "I'll keep try..." Alarms screeched throughout the compound cutting her off. Somebody had tripped one of their boundary alarms. Looking back at him she smiled. "Sounds like they might've come to us."

Clarice's POV

She was freaking out and so was Glow, actually Glow was near hyperventilating. Ok she just needed to think for a moment and figure out what to do next. Poor Anna-Marie, this was all Clarice's fault. She never should have let them come with her.

"Oh god, oh god, what are we going to do?" Glow repeated over and over again as she paced back and forth.

Clarice didn't have an answer for her. She just kept replaying the moment Anna-Marie got captured over and over in her head. She had been shocked into immobility if it hadn't been for Glow yanking her down to hide under the window sill they likely would have been caught too.

Suddenly Glow stopped her pacing and turned to stare at her. "We have to get her back."

Clarice just stared at her like she had gone mad. "How exactly to you think we can do that. We don't even know where they took her or even who they are?"

"You can make a portal there. Maybe if you just think about Anna-Marie it will just take you there." Glow answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Clarice sighed. "Glow you know that not how it works. I can't portal somewhere unless I can see where I'm going or if I've been there before."

"I know but you said yourself you feel different, stronger maybe you can do it now. Isn't it at least worth a try?" Glow pleaded.

Clarice thought about it for a few moments before making up her mind. Glow was right she had been feeling stronger, some unknown power had been released inside of her. Besides at this point they didn't exactly have much to lose. "Ok I'll try but this time I think we should stick together ok." Glow nodded her head. "Ok well here goes nothing."

She pulled the image of Anna-Marie into her mind. She tried to remember as many little details about her as she could. When she felt confident enough she reached out and tore the energies apart creating a portal. With a quick glance at Glow the two of them stepped through together.

The night air was chilling against her skin. She quickly looked around trying to figure out where they were but she had never seen this before. It looked like some kind of compound. They were just outside of the fence and as they slowly approached Clarice let out a little gasp.

"What? What is it?" Glow asked urgently.

Clarice pointed to the logo mounted on the front of the building. "I recognized the logo. It's for Trask Industries they were the ones who were responsible for the hound program. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts she looked around again. "Ok this is serious these people are bad and will go to any lengths so stay close, we go in grab Anna-Marie and then get out." Glow gave her a quick thumbs up. Together they crept forward slowly. She couldn't see any break in the fence so their only option was to open another portal.

The moment they stepped out of the portal alarms blared. Looking down Clarice saw her foot was smack bang in to middle of red laser beam. They must have tripped the security system." Glow went pale white as armed guards flooded the lawn. They tackled them both to the ground. Cuffing their hands behind their backs. They were lifted back to their feet and just when they were putting on the black hood Clarice looked over to Glow and mouthed the words 'I'm So Sorry.' She looked back at me with terror and despair in her eyes but still she smiled back reassuringly. Her last thought was of how this was all her fault. Then Clarice's world went black.

Ok so from now on the plot's going to start moving a bit faster and you're going to start learning more about what has happened and who our main players are. Also as a little spoiler we also have some flashback chapters coming up soon too. Anyway let me know what you think and until next time.