AN: So hi, sorry about deleting previous stories, I just need to write and not worry about how far the story goes. The events of the story will be taking place after the update, and weeks 3 and 7 of Fnf. So at some point I'll be putting this story on hiatus until that update comes out. For the first few chapters weeks 3 and 7 will be the most important. With that out of the way, let's begin. *trigger warning, strong language, mentions of negligence/child neglect, and kidnapping*
Feet pounded down tile hallways, as a girl with violet hair ran bare feet tried to stay ahead of the people behind her. As she burst through the doors to the building she paused to take a breath. When she turned to check behind her, she noticed the lab coats had gained a little ground on her. Her magenta eyes went wide, and she took off running again, this time her adrenaline and new found resolve keeping her going. Then she felt an ice cold turned firey heat radiating pain through her side. She looked down seeing a bullet hole, shortly followed by several more. She began to slow due to the pain, and was eventually overcome. She kept begging her for them to leave her, begging not to go back as the world went to black...
The same girl, quite a few years older woke up gasping, fear, and cold sweat encapsulating her body and every thought. She hugged her pale shoulders, her knees coming up to her chest. "Ok, ok," she said, rubbing her shoulders rapidly,"You know that wasn't what happened. They didn't catch up, you're safe...for now at least."
She looked around the room, assessing everything. She seemed to be checking everything as her heartbeat slowed. "Ok Nova," she mumbled,"Get up, and get ready. You've got to get something done today while you have the day off."
Nova swung her legs off of the bed, her body was still slightly shaky but, it didn't affect her much. She took a breath, and walked into her kitchen. As she started a pot of coffee, she noticed the answering machine, and heaved a sigh of frustration. She clicked the button to listen as she was surprised at the amount of messages. In between messages from work, and fake warning about an extended warranty on "her car" she heard an all too familiar voice. "Hey Nova. I'm aware it's your day off, but I, or rather we, kinda need your help with something. Please come in as soon as you get this. Bye."
Nova groaned, her coffee pot finished brewing, and she sighed,"Well so much for today's shopping trip. And my day off..."
Nova pulled down a travel mug, and filled it. She quickly got changed, and didn't worry about a shower. Then she rushed to catch a bus, her annoyance had her silently cursing the bus driver for taking their time. By the time she got on the bus and paid the fare, she was already receiving another call from the person that called her in. "Yeah Corbin?" She said with a tired irritation.
"Hey!"He replied in frustration,"You know I wouldn't have bothered you if they hadn't screwed something up!"
Nova nodded silently, before speaking,"Yeah I know, tell me, what in the hell did they do this time?"
Now it was Corbin's turn to groan,"That bad huh?" asked Nova.
"Hold onto to shorts," he said in a tone that had Nova imagining his eye twitching,"This is going to be a bumpy ride."
Nova nearly laughed, but kept it to herself as he explained. He told her that her previous "holders" were spotted again. Then followed by a statement that they had hired a merc. to handle the new head of the lab. And finally that he had been captured, but so had others, and due to the fact that they hadn't wanted to bring her in...they hadn't even reached out till now. Nova went from nearly laughing, to gritting her teeth. Her hands were shaking with anger, and her eyes were closed. "Corb?" She asked, her voice dripping with venom.
"Yeah?" He asked, though one could tell he was almost scared to ask.
"Remind me to kill the higher ups next time I see them," she said, exiting the bus a block away from the building.
"H-hey, you're almost here!" Corbin said, quickly changing subjects.
Nova laughed this time, but that said she was still peeved. "Yeah, see you a check-in."
Nova hung up, and took another big drink from her travel mug. She ended up grumbling and swearing all the way up to the door. At check in, Corbin and she never exchanged a word. Mostly because they had finished their conversation while she was on the bus. Despite this, she gave Corbin a friendly smile before disappearing behind the door. After that, she stomped down the hall, anger visible in her eyes alone. Once she entered the room for her job's debrief, before they could even say a word she yelled,"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?"
Before anyone could address her, Nova blurted out,"YOU REALLY FELT THE NEED TO ENDANGER SOMEONE ELSE WITH MY PAST YOU ASS WIPES! I CAN HANDLE MY OWN PAST YOU KNOW!"
"Nova!" Her boss suddenly said, causing Nova to glare at him with the anger of a thousand suns.
He flinched, even though he had seen her this angry before, it never left it any easier to handle. "We know you can face your past, but you're still a valuable asset to this place. We can't afford to lose you."
"And this kid around my age is what," she growled, almost sounding like a wolf in the process,"Expendable!"
"Why do you think we called you in Nova?!" He snapped back.
Nova suddenly was in his face, her eyes glowing, looking more animal than human,"To. Clean. Up. Your. Mess. You. Shit."
Nova could feel him shake, and backed away,"So I'll clean, where was your hired help last spotted?"
Everyone in the room seems shocked, as he suddenly handed her the file. He gave her the breakdown and she read carefully, despite everything she could still sense his fear. She didn't feel right rather, she felt her point had been made. "With that said you'll be away from your job at the store."
"Who's covering?" She asked her voice now scarily calm.
He gave her the name of someone who used to be a field agent. She nodded, and said,"I'll get started right away."
As she walked out, Corbin said,"You know you're going to get punished for that right?"
She nodded, not even looking him in the eye. As she headed home with the file and her now empty travel mug. Her mind was running through scenarios of how she would kill the higher ups if it was legal. Then her eye cast over to the file, which she had angrily tossed on the counter after coming in the door. "Alrighty then,"she mumbled,"Let's review this one more time so I can get this knocked out."
She silently flipped through the file, taking note of the people who disappeared, what happened to this mercenary, Pico, and wether or not their M.O. had changed. As she looked through, she noticed they had purposely done more than enough research on him. She chose to ignore all of as she knew they only did that as insensitive for him to work. She finished looking through the file, she tapped her finger on the counter, while looking out her living room window into the street. "Ok, I'll have to wait to approach their lab until tomorrow, that goes without saying," she said, walking to go sit down on a couch,"That said, I'll have to ask people connected to those who have disappeared to make sure that he was in the right place."
She sighed going back to retrieve the file, so she could look at Pico's file, as much as she dreaded it. She flipped through it, finally finding 2 members of Pico's family. She blinked seeing a father whose name wasn't listed, and a cousin named Otis. "Ok, since Otis doesn't have an address listed, I'll see if I can find any info out from the dad," she muttered,"Though it doesn't seem like he pays him much attention."
She takes a breath, getting herself ready to go out and investigate before tomorrow...
Meanwhile, things have only just begun in a lab nearby...
Pico wakes up, much to his dismay in pain. Though not an uncommon occurrence, what was different was the fact that he was sitting in a cage. His adrenaline kicked in, suddenly he tried to push himself to his feet only for his head to hit the top of the cage. "Damn it!" He snapped slightly.
"Well, it's awake," said a voice masked behind some sort of voice changer.
Pico's eyes shot up, seeing a person in a lab coat and a respirator looking mask, next to the feminine looking scientist, was a person in a black suit. It looked like armor, they wore a helmet that looked like a motor cycle helmet, and they were carrying an assault rifle. "The fuck am I?!" Pico shouted pulling their attention.
Both individuals looked at Pico carefully, his white eyes seemed to be burning holes into the 2 of them. "You'll find out soon enough ginger," the scientist said, walking away while laughing.
Pico growled slightly, then he noticed the things around him. There were corpses in cages all around him, and those who were alive, looked either close to death, or in extreme pain. Pico could feel his heart rate increase, and icy feeling crossing his body, as he clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. He kept trying to keep his cool, as memories from his past started to take hold. "Just as worthless, and stupid as back then," a voice echoed in his head, "why are you even alive? When you killed me?"
Pico swung back hitting his hand on the side of the cage when Cassandra's hand disappeared. "Shit," he mumbled,"Keep it together Pico."
"You too?" He heard echo, a little ways away.
Pico looked around only to spot Boyfriend sitting in a cage, a ways away. "How the..." Pico asked, only to have Bf shake his head.
"I can't even remember," he said, his eyes cast down towards the floor,"I only remember being knocked out."
Pico nodded, he knew that they would need to get out of there. "Ok," he mumbled,"No point in sitting here sulking. Guns or no."
He felt Boyfriend staring at him, and looked over with a calm smile. Despite not being together anymore, he wasn't going to let him die. Boyfriend seemed to smile back, then said,"The lock looks similar to a typical pet cage. If that helps," Boyfriend said noting that Pico looked a little stumped.
Pico nodded, he released a breath feeling a bit relaxed,"No that's good to know. That said, sneaking around might not be that easy."
With those 2 exchanging ideas, in between guards and scientists walking through the area to clean up bodies, and write down plans for those who were still alive. It made both of them feel more bold, and at least Boyfriend felt more hopeful.
Back with Nova, she found herself outside a slightly rundown house in Philly.
She rang the door bell, half expecting the door to be answered fairly quickly, though she didn't even hear shuffling around in the house. She ended up knocking on the door and, ringing the doorbell a few times, before she heard a voice,"FUCKING DAMN IT, I'M COMING!"
There was slurring in the voice, and she could tell this person she was about to face was drunk. As the man's footsteps drew closer to the door, she noticed a set of eyes on her back. Nova spun around, and saw a dark flash whip back around the corner before the door opened. "The fuck is a pretty thing like you doing on my door step?" He suddenly hiccuped, the stench of alcohol filled her nose.
"I'm sorry to be a bother sir," Nova said forcing a kind persona,"But do you have a son named Pico?"
The man's smile slightly dropped, but he welcomed her inside regardless. "Isn't he still like 4?" Pico's father suddenly asked, still slurring and stumbling about.
Nova flinched, trying to silence the hissing sound she made. "He's around 19 or 20 now," she replied, causing Pico's father to whip around.
"Really now?" He asked, scratching his head.
"You really don't care do you?" She asked, noting him picking at his hair shortly after seeming so surprised.
The man looked her, his gaze being just the slightest bit cold. He suddenly walked over, his voice seeming to hiss, and shake as he replied,"It's not that I don't care little miss, rather that my Ruby paid better attention. And, before you ask, she passed after a horrific event at his school. Thankfully he only inherited her hair color."
"Understood," Nova said, staying surprisingly calm,"Funny thing about neglect, it can have the same effects. That said, that means you don't know where your son went."
Pico's dad shook his head, before lifting his hand to slap Nova. His hand swung down, but didn't make contact due to Nova just barely catching it. "Don't assume I'm easy to hit, when you can't be bothered to check on your own son," Nova harshly noted before throwing his arm down and leaving.
As Pico's father bitched her out while she walked away, she actually noted 2 people around her age watching her. As her gaze met theirs, they turned tail and left. She sighed, half wondering if she should have chased them down for a talk, but deciding against it. She walked away, hearing Pico's fathers yells fade into the background. "Ok," she muttered,"That's a bust, especially since he was neglectful enough to not even know his sons current age. Let's look into a few of the others, rising star Boyfriend, and his connections to the dearest's might be a better start. God only knows who else has been kidnapped as of now."
She looked into visiting BFs family first, as she knew getting to talk to them first would be easy. She learned about his younger sister, and how she had been busy in Japan with her own music. When she asked for them to think back to when they heard of his disappearance, that was when the mother chimed in,"He got a sudden text from his girlfriend, she seemed scared, so he left right away after visiting us. It came across as odd though."
Nova's eyebrow raised, as if she needed more information. That's when Boyfriend's father added,"Her parents are literal demons, not like they couldn't defend her if need be."
Nova nodded,"Can you tell me where he was headed?"
Boyfriend's mom nods,"An empty plot, which we tried to tell him, but he didn't answer us. That's when his Girlfriend dropped by in the morning. Let's just say we knew she wasn't behind it, but that's also when we knew he was missing."
Nova hummed, she was thinking about where her bosses had sent Pico. It appeared to be an empty plot, but the area was completely camouflaged, the lab was there, if you could disturb the barrier. "Ok, thank you for your cooperation, I'll do everything I can," Nova said, standing up, a kind smile on her face.
As she made her way to the door she suddenly heard Bf's dad calling after her. "Miss, please wait!" He said calmly.
Nova turned around as he skidded to a stop,"Please get my son home safe."
Nova smiled, she calmly placed a hand on his shoulder, and said,"I can't promise, but that's the the plan."
He smiled at her, heading back inside as she walked away, when Girlfriends story lined up with that of Bf's parents. She had the info she needed, and took the opportunity to properly prepare for the next day. "M.O.'s the same," she mumbled, looking at herself in the mirror,"Which means they haven't changed their methods much. Right... that means I'll want to make my move early. With that being the case, I'll bring my switch blade, and hand gun with. I want to avoid using my powers if I have too. That in mind, I'll get up at 3, eat real quick, and head out. Otherwise I'll have to act fast, or they'll end up changed or dead. Not that I can tell which would actually be worse. Nope, gotta focus, and not panic. Get to bed, and get ready for tomorrow."
Just down stairs, her 2 tails were talking...
"You think she'll find him," asked the girl of the 2.
The male was spray painting a wall, he sighed,"I don't have a doubt Nene, we'll take some jobs in the meantime, and confront him after he's been back for a while."
Nene hums, watching him return to his graffiti,"You got it Darnell, see you at home."
Darnell hummed, "Injure yourself, and I'll kick your ass."
Nene rolled her eyes, and whispered,"Promises, promises."
After she resumed walking away, Darnell stopped, choosing to catch up with her...
AN: So I will continue this as soon as possible, sorry about the odd start! I promise to make sure that I try to keep things in character. I hope you like this story so far, feel free to suggest other characters to use, and stuff. I'm going to try to put out as many chapters as possible before going on hiatus before the demos final update! Still though, I'll do my best to make this enjoyable! Remember to keep on keeping on, and I'll see you in chapter 2!