'Hello.'

That's scary, I thought I just heard a voice in my head. Wait, was that tingling in my head?

'You did. It was me.'

I blinked. Alright, it's official, I'm crazy.

'Not crazy, you just haven't experienced telepathy before.'

Looking back at the girl who was now sitting on the other side of the glass sporting an amused grin, I smiled back.

'That's pretty cool. Is that your Quirk?' I asked her, projecting my thoughts to her this time.

I saw the girl release a breath and wipe her brow as if expending some amount of energy. 'Thank you for doing that. Reading surface thoughts is pretty difficult for me,' she responded in my mind.

The girl paused for a moment, recalling my previous question after I didn't respond to her after a couple seconds. 'No,' she shook her head. 'I don't have a Quirk. I'm a mutant.'

Craning my head in thought for a moment, I recalled my former matron's words from the previous day.

That wasn't a slip of the tongue. Oh fuck, oh fuck. Fuck fuck fuck-.

I gulped.

It was official, I'm screwed.

My eyes picked up movement in front of me, and I zoned in to see the girl shifting uncomfortably.

'Do you...not like mutants?' She asked, a frown coming on to her face.

What? No, I just realized I was fucked in so many ways imaginable. That was why I was freaking out.

The comic universe of Marvel was scary. There were so many world-level threats it wasn't even funny. Then there were the cosmic beings that seemed to pop out of the wood-work with the power to rewrite reality at a whim. That was why I was scared.

People who didn't like mutants were stupid. It really just reminded me of racists.

Bigots, the lot of them.

The girl in front of me began to stand and turn around, as if not hearing my reply. I then realized that she wasn't reading my thoughts, which in hindsight was a good thing. That would make me look crazy.

I'd have to be careful of other telepaths, though. Someone reading my thoughts, especially with what meta-knowledge I had would make them dangerous and me a target.

I tapped on the glass which caused her to turn. I shook my head with a typical shonen smile. 'No, I don't have a problem with you at all. You're the first mutant that I've ever met so I was surprised.'

The girl managed a smile and sat back down, pulling her knees to her chest. 'I'm glad. Mutants, while not inherently different from Quirk-users, are generally looked down on more than those with Quirks. I guess I'm just too young to remember the Mutant riots of the eighties.'

I shrugged. 'I had the same thoughts,' I replied truthfully.

Remembering what I read in the comics as well as the My Hero manga, I began to think.

All Mutants had the X-Gene which manifested sometime during puberty or a little before. Quirks, on the other hand, came from the presence of 'Alpha Particles' which interacted with everyone's body differently just like how Mutants generally never had the exact same power.

Maybe some conflicting research tried to prove the other wrong and that was why there was a distinction between the two? I'd have to look more into this later.

'Anyways, what's your name? I'm Cameron.'

Yeah, no one here would question the use of a different name. I was not Jonathan. I would now go by Cameron.

'It's Emma. Nice to meet you, Cameron.'

I nodded at her, trying to remember if I could remember anyone with telepathy and by the name of Emma. There were a lot of Marvel comics and the X-Men in general weren't my favorite to read all the time.

Eventually I came up blank. This could just be a random person after all.

'What happened to your face?' she asked me after a moment of silence.

On queue, my face throbbed. I had honestly forgotten about it with all that was going on. I was thankful that I could still see, but it did hurt.

'My newly adopted parents were the ones to kidnap me. I tried to run and I was rewarded this by my 'mother' after almost knocking my 'dad' out,' I explained to her.

She looked slightly apologetic at my explanation. 'I'm sorry that happened to you.'

Shrugging, I offered a small smile. 'At least I have my eye.'

Emma nodded back at me. There was, again, a small silence. We were more or less forced to talk to one another, and didn't know each other. It was hard to think of topics to pass the time with.

'Do you have any idea where we are, Emma?' I asked, thinking of an appropriate question to broach. She seemed rather inept in using her powers, or had just come upon them recently. I hoped I was safe from any unwanted probing from her.

She looked around and nudged her head to the cameras that were watching us. There was one in the corner of my cell which gave a clear view of everything that happened in it.

'I'm guessing we're in some sort of facility. But I do know who's running it. Even though I've never heard of such an organization,' she replied to me, shrugging lightly.

I tilted my head in question. 'That seems pretty convenient. I was drugged and didn't hear shit. How'd you figure it out?'

Emma gave me the equivalent of a deadpan stare. 'Telepathy, duh. These Quirk collars only suppress the Alpha Particles, not X-Genes. There's no known technology that can do that. Or at least that was those scientists were thinking.'

Laughing lightly, more at myself than anything, I nodded. All these powers were still new to me, and I was beginning to think Emma was some sort of genius or something. The only reason I knew about both of those things was because I was a nerd.

'Who's running the show here?' I asked her, leaning back to rest on my hands.

'Some people called Hydra, I think? Everyone that isn't an inmate here is thinking it,' Emma stated, not really knowing what she was saying.

My eyes widened. Of all the people it could've been, it had to be science obsessed Nazi's. That made things complicated. Then again, what other shadow organization that I could think of on the top of my head that could've had this type of reach?

And I was put right in the middle of it.

Getting closer to the glass, I managed a serious look at Emma. 'Don't ask me how I know this, Emma. But Hydra is seriously bad news. They were a secret organization back in World War Two that was obsessed with science and researching. They almost nuked Brooklyn but a dude named Captain America stopped them. If they're back, and in the United States then...'

'This is seriously bad?' Emma finished for me while looking worried herself.

I nodded, leaning back.

That was when I heard noises outside the door to my cell.

Both Emma and I stood up and walked over to our respective doors to see what was going on.

I saw three armed guards with someone in a white coat escorting a kid who looked more like a bipedal rock than anything to a door down to my right. The man in the coat was writing on a clipboard, looking up every few seconds as he

The kid was struggling against his captors, but the chains around his hands and ankles made any movement sluggish and useless. "Let me go you creeps! I'm gonna tell my dad on you!"

The guards were talking among themselves, not really paying attention to the raving child as the shoved him forward harshly. "Shut it, zero zero one."

I studied the guards intently. They didn't sport any insignia themselves, but the doctor, or scientist behind them had a small logo on his right breast pocket.

I really hoped it was just a mole. But that's a proudly worn Hydra symbol right there. Fuck me sideways...

Eventually, they entered the door and I didn't hear anything after that. I rubbed the bandages on my eye and cheek idly as my damaged face throbbed again.

With a huff, I laid down on my bed.

I need to get out of here, I thought with a glare before looking over to the side to see a frightened Emma sitting on her bed as well.

'We' need to get out of here, I corrected myself.

….

Life in this place wasn't the worst. On a five-star rating, if I weren't caged up, I'd give it a solid two and a half. The food, while bland, was edible. The cell, while small, was clean. The guards, while generally assholes, left us alone.

The things that I had to get over quickly was using the bathroom while Emma could watch, and her the same. The kids in the cells parallel to us couldn't see us, and the one on the other side of Emma barely moved even when she tried to reach out to him.

Another thing was the showers every two rotations of meals. There was a loud intercom that came over the area that told all of us to strip. I didn't think that Hydra was full of child rapists, but that had me doubting myself.

This isn't a comic. This is real life with sick bastards with power, I had told myself.

Minutes passed, and I heard screaming even through this glass. A child had refused and she was beaten and then stripped. At least that was what I could see from my cell.

The voice then told us to get near the doors and I had tactically turned myself away from Emma, projecting my thoughts like a gentleman that'd I'd be facing the other way.

She had managed a stutter through telepathy which I found amusing.

That was when it rained in our cells for about thirty seconds before the water turned off. We were told to clothe ourselves and that was that. We were given clothes on the next rotation of food and told to stuff the old ones in a corner. That was when I noticed the floors had grating in them so the water could fall through.

Of all the things that irked me about this place, the food, the showers, the lack of information that I could get, no sense of time, and the overall depressing atmosphere, there was one thing that stood out.

The fact that the kids that were taken did not come back. They were taken by a group of four men every time and not a single one had come back.

I managed to gleam some semblance of time in the meals. They provided three of them a day roughly five hours apart. One I assumed at seven in the morning shortly after we were woken up, one at noon, and then the last a five.

Kids were taken not long after we woke up as well. One before breakfast, five were taken between meals, and then four after the last meal. It was tough, but I had associated kids being taken to the hours. The timing felt right, but still. Fucking kids, man...

Fifteen kids a day. Fifteen kids that did not come back.

That rotation had happened eight times. I had counted 118 kids now, each with an ascending number on the back of their clothing. And still, I hadn't seen a single one return.

The only time I saw the guards were when they were delivering meals and ushering the kids, to what I assumed was a one way ticket.

The people of this place left us alone, and if you didn't talk to them while delivering food, they didn't fuck with your food.

Looking into the mirror at the healing scar on my face, I sighed. It stretched from the middle of the left side of my forehead down to the bottom of my cheek. I thought it looked cool, but it still hurt.

'Up for another game of eye spy?' A voice echoed through my mind.

Despite everything that was happening up to this point, I smiled lightly. Emma was there at her edge of the glass looking at me with an amused expression.

'You always win. It's rough against a telepath,' I chuckled, turning away from the mirror to look at her.

Emma managed a pout.

'I think you're just bad at the game.'

I shrugged as I got down on knees, preparing to do some push-ups. I was exercising for a couple reasons.

The first was boredom. There were only so many games that Emma and I could think of to play. Also, we could only talk so much before we either ran out of things to talk about, or she got a headache from overuse of her power.

Secondly, I needed to be strong. If I was a late bloomer or ended up not having a quirk then I'd need to take a page out of Saitama's book from One-Punch Man. One hundred push-ups, sit-ups, and squats every day. I couldn't do the ten kilometer run obviously, but I'd make do with jogging in place.

That was when I frowned, dropping down to begin my push-ups.

Doesn't mean shit if I can't get out of here. Or if that shit actually works, which it probably doesn't. The reason Saitama was strong was because of his broken limiter, not because this shit actually worked.

While doing my exercise, I saw Emma walk up to the glass with a frown.

'Have you thought of a way to get out of here?' She asked me quietly. I had broached the question on the second day. I had no intentions to lay over and be experimented on in here. Unlike my last life, I had to make something out of this one and it did not involve dying in a lab.

Finishing my set of twenty push-ups, as this body could only do so many, I sat up. I released a few deep breaths and sat down, ready to do my sit-ups.

'Let's go over what we know,' I said, beginning my sit-ups. As if rehearsed, Emma began.

'Every hour, four men take someone to that door over there. There's probably more Hydra people on the other side of the door so it wouldn't be smart to go that way,' Emma stated, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

'We'd also have to wait until one of us were taken to act let alone how we'd get them to open the cell door. That'd also mean that we'd have to immediately deal with four grown men,' I replied, finishing my fifteenth sit-up and laying down.

'Correct. When meals are delivered there are at least five agents on every row. We wouldn't be able to get a long enough window to act either since they drop the meals off and leave,' she stated, looking at a stack of plates in the corner with a frown.

'From what we know, the cells are never opened. And if the math we've done is right then we will be in here for at least eight more days if they continue at the rate they're going at. That means they're banking on our short time here to not accumulate enough clutter from the clothes and trays to cause a health problem,' I sighed externally as I started on my squats.

Emma nodded at me, agreeing with my deduction. She was smart and very mature for her age, but I was using an adult brain to deduce things accurately. That meant she was actually smart. I wasn't dumb in my previous life. I took college seriously, rarely had to study in high school, and managed a 4.0 GPA. I was intelligent, but no where near a genius level. It was probably due to me being forced into this situation that caused me to evaluate everything like my life depended on it.

'There is one thing that guards are usually never present for. Any that I've seen at least,' Emma replied.

I didn't reply as I repeated my reps, motioning for her to continue.

'When we shower, no one is here for it. The only time we see guards then is when they deliver clothes, yes?' she explained.

Nodding at her, I finished my twenty reps and sat down with heavy breaths. I wasn't out of shape but my body wasn't conditioned, nor yet ready for working out.

'So you're saying that there's probably minimal agents on the floor during that time?' I asked which made her nod.

'If we can force an agent to come here during that time then I imagine there wouldn't as heavy of a response to anything that would occur.'

I smiled at Emma. This girl was a blessing. 'You're really smart, ya know that, Emma?'

Emma beamed at me, her cheeks turning a little red. 'Thanks, Cam.'

Adopting a thinking pose, I began to weigh the different avenues we could take on how to get a guard to come to one of our cells.

After a moment I snapped my fingers. I had seen many a movie do this, and it worked almost all of the time.

Those are movies, but they might have a grain of truth in them.

Sighing to myself, I grumbled. Imagine weighing your life on a few prison break flicks.

Looking at Emma I projected my thoughts at her.

'Alright, this is the plan...'

….

The biggest part of this is the fact that I'm going to be fucking naked while trying to grapple a grown man. Maybe the shock factor of a naked kid trying to beat your ass will help?

The 'plan' that Emma and I had come up with was shoddy at best, and it relied a lot on the probability that the guards, or whatever Hydra higher up that was in charge of this place gave enough of a damn to give medical care to the kids here.

I was lucky, though. This could've been so much worse than it was. We could've been beaten daily, or we could've been left to the guard's own devices.

Shuddering as I discarded my clothes for the shower, I stood in my cell with a frown in place.

After yesterday, and because I had nothing better to do, I was counting the children going inside the door again. After the first few days, the children were getting decidedly more human looking.

The first two days, it seemed that the only ones who went through the door were those that had mutation-type quirks. The children after that had transformation quirks, but aside from the additions of those quirks, they looked human. Now, it seemed they were onto a mix of emitter-type quirks and the last of the transformation quirks.

Assuming I was the last one, I was the 'rarest' out of all these. Someone with no quirk, or a late bloomer. It was a stretch, though. Emma's range on her telepathy was limited to a few yards and the kids in cells parallel to us couldn't see us because of a half wall and they freaked out at hearing a voice in their head.

Emma was probably the second rarest at having a quirk and a mutant ability, a passive quirk that made her smarter because a couple extra million neurons. It was a passive quirk that wasn't really effected by the collars, thankfully.

Turning away from Emma as I disrobed, I projected my thoughts to her. 'Alright, a minute in, like we planned, I'll slip and pretend to hit my head. You'll freak out and start banging on the door. When or if the guard gets here, start putting on your clothes.'

Emma nodded minutely just as the water kicked on, drenching both of us.

'After he opens the door and gets close, let me know and then start trying to give him a headache, or anything that can make his mind not at its best. I'll see if I can get his gun or baton and knock him out.'

Emma released a breath. Days of planning was leaning on this shoddy idea, but we had nothing else. The guards didn't come into our cells enough to think of anything else. This was the one shot we had.

I began to wash myself, making sure to get all corners of myself slick with water so that the guard couldn't grab onto me. Releasing a shaky breath, I turned my body sharply while pretending to trip over my own two feet.

There wasn't any pretending to slip here. I actually slipped because of the slick stainless steel, grated floor but because I was expecting it my body had locked up enough that when I impacted the floor it didn't really do much.

But I had a part to play, and I'd play it well.

I stilled myself, laying on my side while not moving even an inch.

Laying on my back, I tried to control my breathing, but it was hard. I heard distant echoes of Emma slamming her hands on the doors and shuddered again.

Was it nervousness? I thought it was. I wasn't a soldier, and I sure as hell didn't have a tough upbringing in my past life. No cringe-worthy, dark backstory prepared me for this. It was a matter of situation that I was in here that made me use my adult mind to find a way out.

'There's a guard coming down, Cam. Please don't do anything that could get you hurt.'

'I'll try, Em. But this is the one shot that we have. Be my eyes, please. Just like we talked about.'

I heard the door slide open a second later. I didn't hear it slide back closed and I fought the urge to release a sigh. This was it.

'There's a pistol on his right hip. He doesn't have a helmet on or a vest, only a black mask. He's about a foot away from you.'

Exhale.

'He's kneeling down, about to put a hand on your shoulder.'

Inhale.

'His chest is about to be over your legs.'

Exhale. I felt a touch on my left shoulder.

'Now!'

Eyes snapping open I swung my arm around his forearm and secured my legs around his hips.

"What the fuck!" The guard exclaimed in surprise, his left arm reeling back in preparation for a punch.

That was when it decided to grab his head in pain. "My fucking head, ugh," he paused as I quickly reached down for his pistol only to find it locked into his holster by a small leather strap.

Shit!

Bringing my left elbow up I collided it with his chin causing him to reel back from the strike. Whether it was the strength from my blow or the combination of Emma's psychic attack, I'd never know.

"You little shit!" He screamed at me, trying to stand, only to fall from the water on the ground. The guard grabbed a hold on my legs around his chest but because of the downpour from the shower his hands glided over my skin.

He began to pummel me with forearm strikes to my thighs as I tried to reach for his pistol.

"Ah!" I let loose the groan of pain as he tried to pry me off.

Using my free left arm I reached through his guard and slipped off the strap, freeing the gun from the guard's holster only to find his hand on the barrel.

The guard stumbled again as I saw his eyes go bloodshot. Emma must've been putting his brain through its paces.

He reached up and scratched at his face. "Fuck, fuck fuck! My brain is on fire!"

Using the moment to release myself from him, I untied my legs from his torso and tried to back away from him only for him to pounce on me, hands around my throat.

"You little fucking piece of garbage!" He screeched into my face, foam falling from his mouth. The guard had scratch marks on his face and his eyes were completely red.

A surge of fear emanated from my chest as my eyes widened. The man's hands were all the way around my neck trying to suffocate me. I hit my hands on his arms but he was not relinquishing his hold on me now that he had it.

The man's weight was on me totally, crouched over me with his knees on my legs. I gurgled at him as spittle came from my mouth.

"Fuck what the highers say! Can't have fun with you, can't beat you. Fuck that. I'm going to kill you!"

My arms flailed on his, but his rage and adrenaline were greater than what I could muster. The water from above had stopped a few moments ago but it allowed his bloody face to drip down onto mine.

Darkness encroached on my vision as his hands tightened around my throat.

Not again.

You've survived this far. Don't give up now.

My left hand still had the pistol in a death grip around its handle. In a surge of clarity I clicked off the safety.

I didn't see a man in front of me. I saw a monster that would kill me.

Unless I killed it first.

Bringing it up to the left side of his unprotected chest, I pulled the trigger.

I felt the recoil of the gun push my arm back, but I still pulled it again. One, two, three-oh, he's falling off me.

I inhaled sweet oxygen as my vision swam in front of me. My legs, chest, arms-everything hurt.

Pushing his body off of me slowly, I saw Emma through the glass with tear filled eyes.

'Cam?'

'I'm coming. Can't stop now.'

Standing from the ground I stumbled through the door for the first time and pulled myself over to Emma's cell still nude as the day I was born. I didn't have time to clothe myself, no, we had to move.

Emma stood in front of the door but I motioned for her to stand back. I raised the pistol again and fired at the pad on the door. One shot did nothing so I fired again. I growled.

"How the fuck am I supposed to get her out of here?!" I screamed before thinking back to how the guard opened my door.

'Just leave me, Cameron! You don't have time!'

I shook my head as I ran back in the cell and picked the guard's keycard from a lanyard on his neck.

'I am not leaving you, Emma! We're in this together!'

Exiting my cell, I turned my head as I heard footsteps coming from the opposite direction all the kids were taken.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I yelled, bringing the keycard up to the pad only for it not to open, not even lighting up.

My eyes widened.

It would've opened if you hadn't have shot it, idiot.

I looked up to Emma who sported a tear filled smile and a little blood running down her nose. 'It's okay, Cam. Just go.'

I shook my head as I slammed my hands on the door. Tears fell from my eyes. "No, Emma! I'm not leaving you! I can't! We promised to leave together!"

Just as Emma was about to respond she turned her head and backed up from the door with a fear filled expression.

"Subject 199! Stand down!"

My head turned to see three guards with what looked like electrical batons in hand with full body armor.

Growling in rage, I lifted the pistol at them and began to fire haphazardly in their direction. I was so angry.

If I would've thought more ahead about how to get out of here. If only I would've been more patient and observed more, we would both be out.

It's my fault.

Because I was aiming center mass at the center of the three, the recoil made me jump back and a round caught a guard in the throat making him fall to the ground and for the others to take cover. I fired and fired, screaming at them.

It was their fault. All of this was their fault. I could've lived happily somewhere else, somewhere I could have had a normal life. I would've been bummed that I didn't have a quirk but I would have made due with this new chance in life.

These fucking animals took all that away.

I fired and fired, my shots going up towards the ceiling until I didn't hear rounds going off any more, only the empty sound of the hammer of the pistol falling on an empty chamber.

My wide eyes caught the scene of the guards approaching me.

I guess I'll die now.

That was my thought until a voice made me turn around sharply.

"That's quite enough, 199."

It was one of the scientists, a man in a white coat, Hydra symbol emblazoned over his heart and all. He looked at me with a smirk.

"I was wondering when someone would try to escape. Valiant attempt with two guards killed. I'd applaud you, but you'll be regretting it soon enough," he spoke smoothly as he turned around.

That was when my body was set ablaze with pain.

I felt the impact from the batons of the guards from behind me as they beat upon my back. Electricity surged through me as I fell to the floor, paralyzed from the shock.

They beat me to the floor, kicking me in the side of the face, in the sides of my chest, and then continued to strike me with their batons until I felt nothing except idle shocks through my system.

I didn't know how long I was on the floor, how long they were beating me, but I had definitely been swimming between consciousness and incoherent so I guessed it was a while.

They dragged me to my cell just as another guard dragged the dead one out.

Through all of it, I heard the guards talking as they discarded me in the cell.

"Why can't we kill him? He kill Max and Tom for fucks sake!"

"They told us not to. These kids are valuable, that's what they say at least."

"Even when they kill us?"

"Makes them more valuable, that's what doc says. We can sure as hell beat em though."

What a crock of shit.

Shortly after taking the body from the room, I laid there, wondering if my injuries would make me succumb to something worse than unconsciousness.

Emma's telepathic cries were what echoed through my ears as I fell asleep on that floor.

….

You'd think I'd be used to this place by now.

The black ink of the place I occupied gave me ample time to think. It was a strange comfort to say the least. I didn't dream of this place, but it was where I went when I was forced asleep, that much I had gathered. It was weird.

Why did I try to be a hero there? I should've just let it play out, see where it took me. Dying once made you cherish living, but it seemed that it desensitized you to a lot of other things.

I didn't do it for me. I did it for Emma. And now she's worrying about me.

You'd think that people couldn't become good friends in only a week, but shitty circumstances played into us cherishing each other's presence even more.

But I didn't save her, I just made her waste unnecessary tears.

I felt my body reflexively sigh.

You tried.

I could take comfort in that, I supposed.

Now, to answer the real question. Am I dead again?

I felt my body being sucked downward.

Maybe not. Fuck this is gonna hurt...

….

I breathed deeply and coughed immediately.

Shit, this really hurts. They did a number on me...

Wiggling my fingers and toes to make sure I had full functionality, I then blinked, realizing I was still on the floor. Something wet was falling on me.

I saw blooding flowing down into the grates below me and turned over easyily to where my back was on the floor.

Cursing at the pain on my back I sat up. My face felt swollen and my back felt like it was on fire.

There was water falling down around me, and that made me wonder.

Did they turn the shower on early or was I out for two days?

I felt a familiar burning sensation down below. I really had to pee.

As quickly as I could, I crawled over to the toilet and began to relieve myself. My whole body felt weak and I was winded from that small amount of movement. I was soaking wet but I didn't care. I was just thankful to be alive and not dead.

Not like death wouldn't be a preferable option to this.

The water turned off and I gingerly stepped over to a pile of clothes and garbed myself. I winced as I rose my legs to put my pants on.

Sweet, sweet pain...fucking hell...

There were a few trays that were on the ground in front of the door with food spilled from each of them. Seven to be precise.

That means we're on to the twelfth day. Only one more day to go until it's my turn.

I paused.

And Emma's.

I looked over to the cell beside me and saw Emma turned away from me, laying on her bed. She didn't look like she had participated in the shower and was content on sleeping until her time was up.

Among all that, I managed a smile and limped over to the window that I had first written on to gain her attention.

Gingerly sitting down, I blew on the glass. My jaw hurt but it was manageable.

I rapped by knuckles on the glass a couple times and I saw Emma wince slightly before rising from her bed trepidatiously, as if hearing a ghost. She looked to the door first as if believing it her turn to go the whatever was on the other side of that door before I knocked on the glass again.

Her eyes were bloodshot and she looked disheveled. She might've believed I was dead.

She turned to see me sitting down with a message written on the glass just like the first day we were here.

'You okay?'

Smiling to me she walked briskly over and I managed a smile back. Emma put her hand on the glass and I rose mine to meet hers.

'I was worried,' she told me telepathically, more tears forming in her eyes. 'I thought you wouldn't wake up. I thought I was alone...'

Setting my hand down from the glass I chuckled. 'Yeah...I'm sorry I wasn't able to get you out.'

Emma shook her head harshly. 'I don't care, Cam. You were brave. The bravest person I've ever met. I'm just so glad you're okay,' she began to cry again.

'Shh, it's alright. I'm a tough little bastard. I managed to get two of them.'

Emma paused at those words and leaned her forehead against the glass. 'I know...it must be hard on you.'

My first instinct was to shrug but I caught myself as a wave of alien emotions came over me.

Why did it have to be that way, why did I have to kill them?

This wasn't a Call of Duty game where massacring entire airports had no adverse effects on you. This wasn't a Total War game where you sent your armies to slaughter for limit testing.

I killed two people.

Slamming my hand on the glass in front of me, I looked down. I wasn't a murderer, there's no way I was a murderer.

My whole past life I went through it without throwing so much as a single punch. I wasn't an angry person. I had my fair share of feelings but all in all, there wasn't anything outstanding about my childhood that could have prepared me for this.

They weren't people. They were the ones who wanted to harm you first.

It was like a truck hit me and I was isekai'd all over again.

I was barely an adult when I was admitted to the hospital and began to lay on my death bed. I still had growing to do, things to experience, and things to change who I was as a person. This was one of those things that changed people and I just hoped it didn't change me for the worse.

Feeling myself about to devolve into a panic attack I breathed deeply, once, two, three times.

Projecting my thoughts to a worried looking Emma, I shook my head.

'You saw that first guy, right? He wanted to kill me. The others might've done worse if there were three of them.'

I let myself stop, collecting my thoughts again.

'I was trying to get you out of here and I'd...'

Swallowing the bile in my throat, I pressed on.

'I'd do it a hundred times if it meant getting closer to getting us out, Emma. I'm sorry if you don't agree with that.'

Leaning back, I let a breath loose before I heard a chuckle in my brain.

'I know. I know exactly what you mean, Cam. It's not like I don't agree with it. It's played in my head for two rotations now. I'm just sorry you had to be the one to do it.'

Nodding my head to her, I pressed my forehead to glass. If there were nothing there, our noses would've been touching.

Tears fell down my eyes. What, when did I start crying?

'I'm glad you're my friend here, Em. I'm so glad...'

Tears began to fall from her eyes as well.

'Friends til the end, Cam.'

I began to cry more.

'Friends til the end.'

….

Laying in my bed was awkward to say the least. My back had several burn marks on it from the electrical batons and my chest sported several bruises. My face's swelling had gone down but I realized I sported another cut running from the right side of my nose down to my chin over my lips.

One of those goons' boots must've caught me good in the face.

Being a dude who always customized his MMO characters with scars or tattoos, I felt they looked cool, but fucking shit did it suck on how to get them.

After my heartfelt discussion on feelings with Emma, I had rummaged through the discarded trays and ate what I could from them and laid myself in my bed, not particularly moving much unless the position on my bed became too much for my sore body.

It was annoying but the last day passed and I was counting the children again.

197 people have gone through that door, and no one's come back. That quiet kid beside Emma's cell left as exactly as he came. Not a word...

I swallowed deeply. What makes me any different? I don't have plot armor here, if it even still existed in this Marvel-My Hero mashup.

I looked over to Emma and she was sitting on the ground that was closest to my cell, her back against the wall.

Limping over to the wall I sat down to where her back was facing me.

'I'll see you on the other side, Emma. That's a promise.'

Jesus, I felt like Naruto.

'I know you will, C-Cam. We'll be scared together, okay? Only an hour of time separates us. It's not like much can change in that time, right?'

Emma was shaking as she sat there and all I could do was watch as the girl's age showed itself. She was scared and had only talked to the kid beside her for two weeks.

'Do you ever think about what your dreams are, Emma?' I asked her, almost out of the blue. I needed her to think happy thoughts or I'd start going down my own dark tunnel and then there'd be no hope for either of us.

I needed her to be strong so I could be strong.

'M-my dreams?' she asked slowly, turning so I could see her.

I nodded at her, smiling softly. My face was still swollen but my jaw could manage a lop-sided one just fine.

'Yeah, Emma? What did you always think about doing when you were younger?'

She stopped crying and wiped a hand across her face. 'I a-always wanted to be a therapist, ya know?'

I craned my head to the side, chuckling softly.

'It's a little early to be thinking about that. Never wanted to be a hero or an astronaut?' I asked her before she shook her head, smiling lightly.

'No, I didn't. I learned what a therapist was from T.V. and my grandma always played the shows where patients would heal from being talked to by their doctors. Because I'm a telepath, I can help them even more than words can. Or at least, I can when my powers develop more. But yeah, I've always wanted to help people,' she told me just as I caught movement out of the corner of my eye.

The guards were outside of her cell, but she didn't even turn towards them. Tears began to fall from her eyes again as she heard the movement, but she didn't take her eyes off me.

'I've just felt so good watching others being g-guided from their darkest places that I wanted to do that too, ya know?' Emma told me as I began to breathe heavily, watching as the guards tried to get the busted door open.

'I know what you mean, Emma. I know what you mean,' I told her as my heart began to do back flips in my chest. I didn't want to see her go.

No...please.

Please don't take her.

The guards opened the door not a second later, but Emma still didn't move. She just put her hand on the glass and I shakily met hers with mine.

'But I need something from you, Cam...I need it so badly.'

More tears began to fall from eyes.

'Anything, Emma. Anything,' I replied, looking into her eyes.

'I need you to help me here. Please...please save me. Promise me that.'

'I-I promise Emma. I promise that I'll save you.'

Emma followed the guard up as they grabbed her. I stared at her and she stared back as she was brought from her cell by the Hydra goons.

I stood and walked over to the front of my cell. I couldn't help but cry as she was taken from right in front me. Our eyes remained locked the entire time and she didn't say another word.

She just smiled at me as the doors opened.

I fell to my knees just as she went through that door and I was the last subject out of the 199.

Sitting there, I felt something bubble deep from inside me. I didn't know exactly what it was. But it felt alien, something I hadn't experienced before. Not in this state.

Grief.

Not even when I was on my death bed did I feel grief. I felt regret, but never this pure feeling of helplessness.

And there was something else. Something hot, something bubbly. Something...volatile.

Rage.

"FUCK! FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!"

I tossed the stack of trays across the room as they were the closest, before moving onto the mirror in my cell. I slammed a fist into the mirror above my sink and shattered it, the pieces of it skittering down below me.

The bed was next. Grabbing my mattress, I threw it across the room and began to flip the frame over.

The metal frame collided with the metal floor before I moved back to the door and began to beat on it, intent to break whatever glass it was made of with my bare hands.

"Let her go! Fucking take me! Take me you fucking assholes!"

Blood began to collect on the door as the wounds from my hand made their appearance.

Falling to my knees as my body's soreness and exhaustion, I cried again.

"Fucking take me..."

'I have to save her. I have to...'

….

The hour came and went as the door to my cell opened.

I was kneeling in front of the door and barely registered the guards coming to collect me.

"They really did a number on ya, huh, brat."

I knew that voice.

Looking up, I spotted Patrick amongst the guards. There were more than two here, five to be precise. That made sense. I was their most 'dangerous' subject. Two guards hefted me up by my arms and began to drag me to the door.

"But killing two guards in the only escape attempt we had...I expected nothing less from my 'son.'"

I grumbled. I wanted to spit in his face, but all my energy I had was spent on my wrath-filled haze from earlier.

So I opted to spit on the ground. "F-Fuck you...Patrick."

Patrick didn't take kindly to that and reeled a hand back before another voice I was familiar with stopped him.

"That's enough, Kaminsky. More trauma could upset the experiment."

I chuckled at being saved by the Hydra scientist but said nothing more as the dragged me past the door.

Not really having any expectations made this immensely less disappointing. It was still the same floor from before and we looking like we were in a long hallway.

I wanted to try to escape again, but I felt like that would lead me to an early death. They had already had 198 other subjects, so what made me so special?

I also couldn't help Emma if I was dead.

But above all else, I was too weak to do anything.

Too tired, too mentally exhausted, but all other things didn't compare to the powerlessness I felt.

The escort dragged me for a while before they stopped and the doctor who was busy writing on a notepad pressed his key card to a pad beside the door.

The threshold split open to reveal a multitude of other scientists walking around. Some were on catwalks while others were behind fancy-looking computers, none the wiser to the escort entering the room.

Then again, you'd be desensitized to 200 kids being brought into a room after a while.

There was also a table (chair?) that I was being brought to by the guards before they left the room.

Afterwards, a multitude of people in white coats began to walk up to me and started to strap me into this thing. They also hooked me up to a breathing apparatus and stuck several vital sensors onto my body. I could only blink tiredly at this.

I felt the cool metal restraining bars strap over my wrists and ankles before the same scientist that stopped Patrick looked at me as the others went back to whatever they were doing.

"There's a reason you're the last one, little one. We had to try every combination we could think of to get this right, and you were the rarest one. Take pride in that," he smiled almost good-naturedly at me.

I wanted to spit in his face but I couldn't even manage the saliva, not to mention my mouth being covered.

I'm so tired...

"Maybe you'll be the one, 199. Just maybe..."

And with that, he walked away to a pedestal to my left and began to type into his computer.

Looking towards the ceiling, I breathed deeply.

I'm gonna die as a lab rat.

"This begins the last of the 199 experiments. Is everyone ready?"

"Vitals reading. His temperature is 3 degrees high, but other readings are normal."

"Previous trauma does not impede with any tests."

"Subject 199 is stable and ready for Weapon X, X-Gene transfusion."

...Fucking what?

…..

That's a cliffy for ya. Need some buildup before I get into anything.

And also, 'Boohoo, I don't like SI 'harem poaching.' What the fuck even is that?

There's a door, right over yonder.

Anywho, review please!

Peace!