As Khione let out a deep breath, she smiled as it almost instantly turned into a fine mist. The air around her was freezing cold, but it didn't bother her. Cold represented power, and she embraced that power. Khione looked around her small prison cell.
The cell was twenty feet wide and twenty five feet long. There was a bed in one corner, and a small toilet in the other. A bookcase was near the bed, but it was full of novels with important pages missing. Khione would never be able to find out who any of the murderers in the novels where, as the pages with the big reveal were missing or marked too bad to see anything.
Life in the prison cell was actual hell, and if she had known it would be like this, she wouldn't have taken the plea bargain and would have taken her chances to break out of the court. It wasn't like the special handcuffs she wore really stopped her powers.
Khione had what she liked to call a passive power and an active power. Her passive power caused her to lower the temperature around her to near freezing, and if she concentrated, she could drop the temperature even lower. Her powers also affected the little special handcuffs that they put on her.
Something about the cold affected the handcuffs. Instead of stopping the power, it suppressed them, so she could grab someone and give them a nasty case of frostbite. It wasn't as fun as just freezing someone to death or even into an ice sculpture, but it was always fun to bully the new guards.
That was probably why she didn't have any privileges. Her dinner was delivered by a guard dressed in full winter gear, and they would push the tray towards her on the icy floor. Before Khione could blink, the guard would flee, and she was left alone to eat a cold meal.
The cold never bothered Khione. In fact, all kinds of weather fascinated her. That was probably due to the fact that her father was a weatherman who traveled the world, until he let the stress of his job drive him to insanity. Khione was left to take care of her two brothers. They were struggling to make ends meet, until Khione's powers suddenly kicked in.
There was no warning for Khione's powers. She had woken up one day to a near freezing house. Her brothers didn't seem to mind too much, but Khione could see how she was nearly freezing everything around her. It took months to get her powers under control, but when she did, money was no longer a problem. Who could stop a mugging if their blood was literally turned to ice?
Khione was able to set her brothers up for life, before she was caught. In the end, she almost wished that she had shoved her brothers onto the street and kept all the money she had made to start a new life. Khione couldn't do that though, since her brothers would have just sold her out. Bastards.
Things were changing though. Khione had been visited two nights before and was told she was being transferred to Tartarus. A special cell was being built just for her, but it would also be a place she could live. She would even have her own television.
Khione found it all funny. She was a mistreated prisoner in this normal jail, stuck to her own cage. Gong to Tartarus meant she would have a room all to her own. She would be treated better than the prisoners at the current jail, but wasn't Tartarus where the worst of the worst went? Why were they being treated so well?
Footsteps caught Khione's attention. She looked up and watched the person standing outside of her cell. A frown came to her face, as she recognized the man. He was the one who first escorted her to her jail cell. The man looked ready for winter. He wore heavy, winter pants that were tucked into his boots. A bulletproof vest resided over what looked like a heavy winter coat. He wore a balaclava that didn't expose his mouth, and goggles covered his eyes. There was no exposed skin, which was such a shame.
"Johnson," Khione spat. She stared at the name that was printed onto his vest. Johnson was the leader of the Olympian's elite unit. They were the ones who transported villains with powers to and from legal hearings and jails. They were the best of the best. Khione knew that Johnson was former military, but the man had no powers of his own.
"Khione," Johnson greeted. Three more guards appeared behind him. They all wore identical outfits to Johnson, with the only difference being the names printed on their chest. Two of them held assault rifles: Reynolds and Brown. The fourth one had no weapon, other than a pistol strapped to their hip. They also didn't have a special little name printed on their vest.
"I will only explain this to you once, Khione. Make sure you are listening," Johnson said. Khione glared at the man. "Today, you are being transported to Tartarus, where you will serve out the rest of your sentence. If you make a move to escape or hurt any of my men, I will make sure that you lose all of the privileges that they want to give you. Am I understood?"
"Crystal," Khione answered. She watched Johnson open the cell. He walked towards her holding chains. Considering the other two had raised their guns, Khione just slowly stood and offered her hands. Johnson carefully chained her hands and legs. Then, he removed the handcuffs.
"Reynolds, search her for any weapons. Keep an eye on her Brown," Johnson answered. He stepped away and grabbed the small bag that Khione had. She had put all of her meager belongings with her inside that bag. Johnson carefully swung the bag across his back and walked back towards the fourth guard. Khione paid no attention to the man searching her. Instead, she focused on Johnson and the fourth guard.
"Until we get to Tartarus, I expect you to follow my lead," Johnson said. The fourth guard nodded. "Good. I want you to hang back, and if Khione tries anything, do not interfere unless me and my men are incapacitated. We are trained to handle this. You are not. I appreciate that Tartarus has sent us a guard, but it is my rodeo until we set foot into Tartarus. Then, I had the reigns over to you."
"Your show," the fourth guard promised. Khione saw Reynolds step away and nod towards Johnson. Khione watched Johnson motion for her to walk forward, and she did. She was going to take the first opportunity to escape that she could, but there was no sense trying it while she was still inside the prison.
"Follow my lead, Khione," Johnson said. He started to walk forward. Khione slowly followed him. Reynolds flanked her right side, and Brown flanked her left. They both held their rifles in a relaxed fashion, but both barrels were pointing right at her. The fourth guard, the one from Tartarus, followed behind them.
The walk between the five of them was in complete silence. Khione didn't feel the need to talk to any of the peasants, and as soon as she got out of this hellhole, the better it would be for her. She wouldn't miss any of the people there. Khione hissed as she felt the chains straining against her powers. It took a deep breath for her to refocus, and they made it outside.
Khione stopped walking and stared up at the sky. It had been a full year since she had seen the sun. Instead of pushing her forward, Johnson held up a hand and waited for a few moments. Khione took a few deep breaths and tried to soak in the sun. She hated the warm weather, but considering the only thing above her for the last year was concrete, she was willing to take what she could get.
Johnson finally cleared his throat, and Khione forced herself to start walking again. Johnson slammed his hand twice into the back of the truck, and then, he opened one of the doors. Reynolds opened the other, and the two guards helped Khione climb inside. They sat her on a bench. Reynolds sat on her right, and Brown sat on her left. The two guards sat far enough away that she couldn't reach over and grab their guns. Johnson and the guard from Tartarus sat across from her.
Reynolds slammed his hand against the cage that separated the back of the truck from the driver. After a few moments, the van started to move. Johnson turned his gaze towards the guard from Tartarus and spoke, "I didn't catch your name."
"Ramirez," the guard answered. Johnson nodded his head and then focused back on Khione. It took all of Khione's willpower to not sneer at him. There was no way for her to break out of the van. Even if she took out the four in the back of the van with her, she still didn't have a way to get to the driver.
Khione sighed and closed her eyes. None of her guards talked, which was nice. If she thought really hard and ignored the sounds of random horns outside, she could actually imagine she was somewhere on vacation and not going to the place that she would be trapped in for the rest of her life.
It took about half a hour for the van to come to a stop. Khione could hear muffled talking outside, and the van slowly started to move once again. It maintained a constant, steady speed, until it came to a stop. Johnson stood and opened the door to the van. He spoke, "You're up, Ramirez."
Ramirez nodded and stepped out of the van. Khione slowly climbed out of the van, escorted by her two guards. They both flanked her side and walked with her. Ramirez led them towards the front entrance, and Johnson followed behind.
"Stop," Johnson suddenly ordered. Khione slowly did. She walked Ramirez continue forward. They handed four cards to the guard that was at the front entrance. The guard scanned each of the cards and then handed them back. After a nod, the guard that had scanned the cards hurried away. Ramirez held the front door open for them.
Khione took a shaky breath as she walked towards the entrance of Tartarus. She heard plenty of stories about the place, but she wasn't sure how many of them were true. The one thing that she did know was that there was plenty of monsters worse than her in there.
Khione felt her two guards leave her side and step behind her, so they could walk single file through the door. Khione walked through the door and suddenly felt herself hit something solid. She blinked and realized she had walked right into Ramirez, but she could have sworn that she wouldn't have walked into the guard. Did the guard dare walk in front of her?
A barrel of a gun pressed into the back of Khione's head, and someone gave her a harsh warning. Khione didn't hear it though. All she felt was something warm in her hands. It had been given to her when she bumped into Ramirez. Khione's eyes shot down towards the key that was tucked in her hands, and a smile came to her face.
"Behave," Johnson warned. "One more incident like that means you lose all your privileges. Do you understand me?"
"Loud and clear," Khione said, but her eyes were focused on Ramirez. After the rest of the guards made it through the door, Ramirez started to lead them once again. Khione glanced around at her surroundings. She didn't seen any other guards, but she knew there was at least fifty of them that worked at the prison. Were they all scared of her powers? She certainly couldn't be the most dangerous person there.
Khione followed behind Ramirez, and she toyed with the key. This was her chance to escape, and she was going to take it, before they got too far from the entrance. As they made it into a narrow hallway, Khione slid the key into one of the shackles. She slowly opened it and kept it in her place with her hand. Khione unlocked her other shackle and smiled. Now, the fun would begin.
Khione allowed the chains to drop. The chains around her leg would dampen her powers but not enough to stop her. In an instant, Khione turned towards Reynolds and grabbed his face. She thought of winter in her hands, and Reynolds screamed in agony. Brown raised his gun, only for an icicle to tear through his throat.
A knife flew past Khione's ear, and she heard a gasp behind her. Khione threw Reynolds to the ground and turned towards Johnson. There was a knife buried in his shoulder, and he was struggling to grab his sidearm. Khione grabbed his neck and spoke, "Stand down."
Johnson gasped, and before he could scream, Khione turned his blood to ice. Johnson instantly collapsed, and Khione let him fall. She smiled coldly and removed the chains from her legs. Now, she was finally back to full power.
"The guards are all away from the cells, to get away from your powers of cold. They think you will be in a cell in ten minutes, so we need to move," Ramirez said. Khione sighed. There was one more problem to deal with. She turned and reached out for Ramirez's throat.
Ramirez caught her wrist, and the cold stopped. Khione gasped in shock and stared at Ramirez. She couldn't use her powers. Khione focused on the hand that tightly gripped her wrist. There was no longer a glove on the hand. Ramirez spoke, "You can help me break out the Titans, or you can make the worst mistake of your life."
"Titans? You're insane," Khione said. After a moment, the hand let go of her wrist, and the cold came back. Khione took a few steps backwards, but she finally nodded. Ramirez turned and started to walk away. After a moment, Khione followed.
Ramirez walked towards a closed door. There was some kind of keypad on the outside of the door, and Ramirez motioned to it. After a moment, Khione thought of the cold and allowed it to grow in her hand. She placed her hand to the keypad. It short circuited almost immediately, and there was a small click. Ramirez pushed the door open.
"It's time," Ramirez said into the room. "Give us a minute to pass, so Khione doesn't freeze you to death."
Khione didn't hear a response, but Ramirez moved on to another cell disguised as a room.. They repeated the process, until they had opened seven cells in total. Ramirez repeated her message each time, until they made it to the seventh cell. That was when she stepped inside. After a moment and against her better judgment, Khione followed.
As Khione made it into the cell, she stared at the most infamous villain in the history of Olympian Plains. Kronos was sitting in a chair and staring at the entrance to the cell. There was a content look on his face. If he was bothered by Khione's cold, he didn't show it.
"Everything has gone to plan. You have done well, Reyna. Are we ready to move out?" Kronos asked. Ramirez nodded. "Good. We will leave my wife here, so she is not caught in the crossfire. I will gather the Titans and secure our escape. You take our new friend and destroy all of the security footage."
"Understood. Tethys and Mnemosyne are in position," Ramirez said. She walked out of the cell. Khione stared at Kronos and slowly walked backwards. She quickly followed behind Ramirez. Were they really breaking the Titans out of Tartarus?
The two of them hurried down the hallway. Khione wasn't sure where they were going, but Ramirez seemed to know all of the twists and turns by heart. Ramirez suddenly came to a stop and stared at the keypad that was to their right. Khione looked at it as well. The keypad looked newer than the ones that the Titans had on their cells.
Ramirez placed her hand to the keypad, and Khione heard it shorten out. The door to the cell opened, and Ramirez stepped inside. Khione peeked into the cell and stared at the man that was laying in a bed on the other side of the room. Her heart almost jumped from her chest.
"What is the meaning of this?" Hades asked. He stood and studied them. Khione quickly disappeared behind the door, so he wouldn't see her. Hades was not what she expected, but she had heard plenty of stories. "Who are you?"
"They call me Praetor," Ramirez said. Her gloved hand casually rested on the gun at her side. The hand without a glove on it was resting in her pocket, but Khione remembered the cold disappearing. This Praetor seemed to have the ability to stop powers. Wait. Praetor? Khione remembered the gossip in prison was that a villain named Praetor had been executed by Kronos, but none of this made sense. This couldn't be the same Praetor, right?
"Praetor," Hades repeated. He seemed to be thinking the same thing that Khione was. "And, what are you doing inside my cell?"
"I'm breaking the Titans out of this hellhole. We're already leaving one in their cell, but I refuse to leave anyone else behind. No one should have to be trapped in a cell for the rest of their life, no matter what others say about them," Ramirez said.
"I guess I owe you then, Praetor," Hades said. He stood and smiled. Hades turned and started to pack his items. Ramirez left the room. She started to walk away, and after a moment, Khione followed. Her gaze looked back towards the room. Did Ramirez know the evil that she had just unleashed?