Chapter 2: Hellfire

I'm woken up by the sound of the door opening. I growl and sit up, knowing that the scientists are here. I grab the chalk, marking another day before setting the chalk down and turning to face the scientist who just stopped in front of my cell. I glare darkly at them, the guard on the right of the group of scientists flinches a bit, I guess he's new. One of the guards sets a cup of coffee into my cell and I grab it, drinking it as quickly as I can before giving them an expectant look.

The scientist at the front of the group, a man named Toby Richard, the head scientist and cruelest man in the lab, opens my cage. He's the one who does the injections, and he enjoys it way too much. I exit my cage, being careful not to make any sudden movements. As soon as I'm standing in front of them, I reluctantly hold out my arms and let them put me in handcuffs. Once the handcuffs are on they put my shock collar around my neck and lead me out of the room, not waking any of the others up.

I look around as we walk, passing several doors marked with signs like 'Storage', 'DNA lab', and 'Power Storage' before we finally come to the one that I'm dreading...'Injection Lab'. They drag me into it and strap me to a large metal table. After I'm strapped in everyone except Toby leaves. Toby just silently begins to prepare the liquid that he's planning to inject me with and ignores the glare I have aimed at him.

"Hello Experiment Twenty-Seven." he says as he turns to look at me. I growl at him for the use of my experiment name and he smiles cruelly, "How are you today?" I keep silent and he tilts his head a bit, "Still not talking to us?" he asks, when I don't respond he hums in thought, "I think you might like the power I have in mind for you today." I growl again as he walks up to me, needle in hand. He doesn't hesitate to inject the strange liquid into my arm before backing away and grabbing a clipboard to take notes on. For the first two minutes nothing happens, then I start feeling cold, so cold that I start shivering. After what feels like an eternity of cold it suddenly changes and I start feeling like liquid fire is running through my veins; burning my insides and turning my blood to ash. "You know...this injection has killed every experiment I've ever tried it on."

Upon hearing this I get flashbacks of all the kids that came before me. Stone Breaker, the leader before me and a girl who I idolized, Harsh, a boy who I mentored, Shadowsong, my twin brother in the eyes of the other lab rats; every one that went for testing and never came back flashes through my mind and I lift my head to glare at Toby, seeing a smirk on his face.

I take a shaky breath and feel anger well up, coiling up like a snake in my chest. My vision blacks out around the edges until the only thing I see is Toby and his stupid smirk. I want him to burn for what he's done. I take another ragged breath before saying, "Toby?" he gives me a curious look before moving towards me, probably so he can hear me better, "Burn in hell."

He chuckles as I finally give let out a scream. I honestly can't tell if I'm screaming out of anger or pain but as I scream I begin to see black flames flickering across my vision. I scream again, wanting to watch my main torturer burn, I see the black flames lash out and wrap around Toby. I see him turn to ash before I my vision fades and I lose consciousness.

No One's P.O.V.
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters

At a school for mutants run by a man named Charles Xavier everyone is in a state of panic because mere moments ago every mutant with telepathic abilities collapsed, holding their hands over their ears as their hearing was filled by the sound of a little girl screaming in pain. The screaming lasted a full minute before going quiet. The first mutant to recover was Professor Xavier, who quickly headed down to the basement where a device known as Cerebro, which allows him to track mutants around the world, is located.

He quickly discovers that the scream had effected not only his students, but every telepathic person in the world. After discovering this he locates the source before calling for one of his closest friends and students; a female mutant with the ability to control the weather who calls herself Storm.

"You called for me, Professor?" she asks as soon as she enters.

"Ororo, yes. I'm afraid that I have some rather disturbing news." the woman's wheelchair bound mentor says, his voice showing nothing but concern.

"What is it, Professor?" Storm asks, looking slightly worried. "Does it have anything to do with why all the telepaths in the school suddenly collapsed?"

"Yes, in part." he says with a small frown. "However I believe it would be most prudent for you to gather a team. I believe that Scott should lead this particular mission."

"May I ask why?" Storm asks him in a concerned tone.

"Because I believe you to be too attached to this particular situation." he tells her in a gentle voice.

"What?" she asks in a confused tone before her eyes go wide, "Is it...her?"

"What caused the telepaths to all collapse was a sound. A little girl screaming. Upon searching for the source I discovered that the scream came from an eight year old mutant girl in a laboratory with six other mutants of the same age. However the signature of the one that screamed matched that of your daughter." Xavier tells his student.

"How close was the match?" the woman asks shakily.

"One hundred percent." he answers and Storm nods. "I will send the coordinates to the X-Jet's navigation system. I would also like for you to ensure the facility they currently are in is destroyed in such a way that they cannot use it again. I don't like to condone violence, but the people in that lab cannot be allowed to escape."

"I understand. I'll go get Scott and the others." she tells him before rushing out.

Time Skip; 3 hours later
The Lab; Shock'n'awe's P.O.V.

I wake up in my cell to the feeling of my bones screaming in pain. It feels like they are on fire, or have been dipped in acid. I groan a bit as I sit up, gaining the attention of the others. I look around as the others all turn to look at me, "Are you alright, Shock?"

I look at the source of the voice and see Nightshade, looking worried for me. I stand and walk around the small cell, thinking about what happened but finding that my memories are blurry. I have vague memories of Toby turning to ash but that might have been a dream...man what a good dream if that is the case. I turn to Aeolus and ask, "What happened?"

"The guards dragged you in here a few hours ago; one looked horrified, one looked sick, and the third one looked dazed. The dazed one put something in your cell, just behind the door. We can't see what it is and the other two didn't notice him put it there." he tells me as if giving a report.

I search the edges of my cell door, it's so dark that I can hardly see but I manage to find what it is, in my hand is a key ring. I smile a bit before saying, "Hyde, you're up."

I wince in pain again and the others all seem to notice, "Are you ok, Shock?"

"I'll be fine." I tell Apollo, not wanting the group to worry.

"What happened in there? Are you hurt? Tell us what's wrong Shock!" Nightshade says in a panic, going into what we all call 'Big Brother Mode' I smile in a hopefully reassuring way at him before stretching again and sighing.

"I'll be fine, Nightshade." I tell him. "My bones feel like they are made of fire and I have a headache the size of Toby's ego but that will fade."

I get more flashes of Toby turning to dust and tilt my head, turning away from the group and thinking to myself, 'Was that just a dream? Did I kill him? No, it was probably a dream.'

After a while of me silently pacing, keeping the key ring hidden in the corner of my cell, the only corner that the cameras in the room never sees, right next to the toilet. I'm only brought out of my thoughts when I hear Artemis ask the guy that brings us food, "Where's Shock's food?"

I look over as the guy glances at me fearfully. "I've got it here..." he tells us shakily. "But I won't go near her with her standing there. Not after what she's done."

I slowly back away from the door and into the farthest corner from him before putting my hands behind my back, "I won't move from this spot until the food is in my cell if you have to tell me if what I did to Toby was a dream or not. Deal?"

He nods before grabbing the tray marked with my name and walking it over to me. Once he sets it down in my cell he looks at me and asks, "What do you think you did to Toby?"

"I think I killed the guy." I tell him blankly.

"Oh..." he then looks at me and gestures for me to come closer. I walk over to him and lean down, he leans up and whispers, "You did."

I back up and he sets the tray in and removes the metal lid that keeps it warm. I see the Steak dish that means the injection worked, waiting for him to go to his cart before walking over to the tray and grabbing the fork to eat the chopped up steak with. Soon as he's out of the room I call out, "The experiment worked again."

"But what about Toby?" Nightshade asks, "You said you thought you killed him."

"Yeah." I say as I take a bite. I swallow it before saying, "I did."

"Why aren't you freaking out?" Aeolus asks in an incredulous voice. "You just killed a guy!"

"Yeah. I did." I say again as I continue eating.

"Why aren't you freaking out?" he asks again and I sigh.

"I haven't cared whether or not I kill anyone since three years ago when Shadowsong died." I tell him before I continue to eat.

"But it's not like you wanted to be the one to kill him. It was an accident, right?" Nightshade asks.

"No." I say, looking up at him. "I wanted to do it. He injected me with the same stuff that killed Stone Breaker, Harsh, Shadowsong, and every other kid that never came back. I wanted him to die. I wanted to watch him burn, and I did."

"Shock..." Artemis says hesitantly. I grab my tray of food and turn away from them, not listening to them for the rest of dinner. About twenty minutes after the guy who comes to pick up the trays takes them Hyde calls for our attention.

"Guys." we all turn to look at him and he takes a nervous breath before saying in a slightly excited tone, "Alarms just began ringing all over the lab. There's a group of mutants headed this way. If we ever needed a distraction to escape with, its now."