I forgot the disclaimer type things in the prologue. I don't own any of the I-Man characters. I'm not getting any money from this and all that jazz. Red is my own creation however. This disclaimer stands for all following chapters as well. This chapter is dedicated to Liz_Z, who gave me my first review. Hope you like it.

"The Beginning"

It was a dark and stormy night... Okay, so it was really a bright sunny Wednesday afternoon, Darien Fawkes had been called down to the lab by Claire, the Keeper. He smiled a half smile at her, "What's up Claire? It's not booster time." The Keeper was serious, as she usually was, "I want to show you something. Someone."
Claire led Darien to the mirrored window of the padded room, lying on the cot in the room was a girl, who appeared to be in her early twenties, she had close-cropped, but shaggy, red hair. Darien was puzzled, "She's cute. But why's she here?" Claire looked over at Darien, gauging his reaction, "She also has a Quicksilver Gland." Darien was shocked, "The Agency do this to her?" he practically snarled, turning on the Keeper. Claire stayed calm, "No. We don't know who did. She showed up on our doorstep last night with a note. Whoever put that Gland in her head didn't know about the necessity of the counteragent." Realization struck Darien, he closed his eyes and leaned his head against the window, "Her Gland took over, didn't it?" Claire nodded, "yes it did, or at least it started to, and they've kept her sedated ever since." Darien looked at the girl again, "How long has she been under?" The Keeper shrugged and shook her head, "We don't know, by our best estimation, a month. But it's probably been longer."
Darien scratched his head, "So, why am I here?" Claire smiled, "She's going to come around in a few minutes, and the Agency has appointed you her Guardian." Darien knitted his eyebrows, "Her what?"
"Her Guardian. Hobbes was yours, and now you are hers." She handed him a syringe, "You should get ready."
Claire let Darien into the room. When the girl came to she held the back of her head and growled in pain. Darien had already made sure that there was no air in the syringe, "Hey, um, Red, give me your arm." The girl looked at him sideways and held out her arm, "More sedatives?" she asked through gritted teeth. Darien shook his head, "No. A counteragent. You'll be in charge of your own head again." He injected her she winced slightly. After a few moments she relaxed and looked at Darien, "That's better. How do you know about not being in control of your own head?" Darien shrugged nonchalantly, "I've got a Quicksilver Gland too. I thought I was the only one."
"I thought I was. So what's this counteragent stuff for?"
"It keeps the amount of Quicksilver in your bloodstream in check. You need shots every six days, less if you go invisible. The more often you're invisible, the more often you need shots." He sat on the foot of the bed, "Listen to me, I sound like one of them. I probably know as much about this as you do. I still have problems with control." The girl blinked in confusion, "Control? What do you mean by that?"
Darien held out his hand so the girl could see it vanish. Then the Quicksilver cracked and splintered to the ground. The girl was amazed, "How did you do that?"
"You can't?" The girl shook her head, "No, I'm invisible or I'm not. Even that's hard to do. I have to get my heart rate up and keep it up."
"That's probably why they made me your Guardian, so I can teach you." Darien mused, "Do you have a name?" He asked. It was the girl's turn to shrug, "Don't know. I've been under long enough to lose things. I kinda liked it when you called me 'Red' though."
"Red it is then. Do you know how old you are?"
"I was eighteen when they put this thing in my head. Then it was almost a year before they figured out how it worked. That plus however long I've been under."
"We don't know how long that's been."
"Damn. How do we find out?" the girl asked in a worried tone. Darien ran his hands through his hair, "What's the last historic event you remember?" The girl thought for a minute, "The Oscars." Darien smiled, "That's easy enough, who won?" Red chewed the corner of her lip, "'Titanic'. I think." Darien's jaw dropped, "That was four years ago." Red perked up, "Well then, I'm at least twenty-two."

Will Red resist the counteragent and go Quicksilver mad? Will the Keeper approve of calling her 'Red'? Where did Red come from? Will Hobbes approve of his partner hanging out with this girl? Will Red try to kill anyone? Will she remember any of her past life? Does she find Darien as cute as he finds her?
The answers to these (and any other) burning questions will be revealed in future issue-sodes of 'The Girl Called Red.' But only if YOU want to know!