Ill try and post a chapter once per week, I hope you like this chapter as it's a bit longer than the introduction chapter.

Matt Ironside – New York City

Sweat poured from his dirt stained forehead as he slumped against the dustbins, checking over the top slightly to make sure his pursuers had gone. For the moment he was safe and he let out a sigh of relief, it had been two days since he had even discovered what he could do, he hadn't asked for it, it had just started happening.

He had heard about it from the government, about these people with 'Abnormal mutations' and that they were a danger to the public, he never realised this was what they were talking about. Matt looked down at his hands, at least when he was calm it stopped happening, he could control this….thing.

As soon as it had happened, his mother had walked in and freaked out, saying he was turning out just like his father. Minutes later they were smashing down his door and trying to take him away, it had been luck that he had escaped this long. Running through back streets for two days, hiding in burnt out cars and under homeless shelters.

But his mother, how could she give up on him so fast. This thing had happened and she threw him away like he wasn't even her child, it left him feeling hollow and alone knowing that even his own blood didn't want him anymore.

He just wanted whatever this thing was to go away, but he wasn't giving himself up either. He heard horrible stories of how people that were a 'threat' to the government just disappeared and no one had the right to question their motives or reasons for abducting people. Nearly every country in the world now hunted these people, he could see how this phenomenon that was happening to him could be dangerous. Maybe if he found someone else with this thing, they could help him, perhaps even tell him of somewhere safe that he could go, if there were others they must have somewhere away from the government that they had safe, otherwise there wouldn't be news of alleged attacks from them.

Something nudged him and he rose his head to see a dirty, thin and quite frankly almost dead dog rummaging around in the garbage. He watched it for a moment, it was the most entertainment he had seen in days, if it could be considered entertainment.

Curiously he looked at his hands, if he learned to control this power, maybe they would see he wasn't dangerous and they would let him go if he got caught. He reached out to touch the dog, no one cared about a homeless dog did they? It wouldn't matter if it went wrong and………………………..

Footsteps suddenly came bounding towards him and he leapt up, two men in black suits sprinted at him from the other end of the alleyway, one already drawing his tazar.

"Oh crap!" Matt said aloud, diving behind the dustbins and crawling through the rubbish.

"Target acquired on Madison Avenue," a voice said," all units move in, stun only,"

Matt jumped up onto a garden fence, scrambling over just as a whizzing grey object struck the wall connected to a thin wire. He landed hard on the concrete and an old women drinking tea in her back garden screamed as he rose up and crossed the garden, half limping from the fall. His side screamed out in pain, but he knew he couldn't stop now. Over the next fence he went as two faces from his pursuers glanced over pointing their tazars, he checked his landing zone this time and landed softly on his feet as they too tried to climb over the fence. As both feet hit the floor, the pain shot up his side again and he fell onto his knees, he grabbed his side to find a piece of broken wood sticking out of his rib. The adrenaline had kept him going, but now the pain was throwing him off course. He limped towards the back door of the house and was surprised to find it unlocked, Matt knelt in the person's kitchen and watched as the two men searched the area for him. It was only a matter of time before they found him.

Matt pulled the wood stuck in him, but it only brought more pain as it refused to budge an inch.

"Unit 3 did he come your way?" one of the men said into their radio.

"Negative," the reply came," check the houses, he must have gone into one,"

Matt dragged himself through the house, bumping into a man as he emerged from the bathroom. Matt didn't have time to think and he pushed the man back in and held him against the wall.

"Take anything you want," the man said," please just don't hurt me, my kids are upstairs……please,"

"Shut up," Matt said," Im not going to hurt you, I just…….,"

At the exact same time both men looked down at Matt's hand holding the man, the skin was changing to match that of the man he was holding. The man's eyes went wide with fear, unable to muster a word from his open mouth, they both just stared at each other, even as the back door to the house made a crashing sound.

Matt overcame his shock and thought hard, maybe he could use this to his advantage, but how long could he hold onto this thing? He didn't know but there was only one way to find out.

"Your one of those people aren't you?" the man said," one of those freaks the government are trying to round up,"

"Shut up," Matt said.

This had to work.

Matt closed his eyes and concentrated hard, trying to work out what he had to do to get this thing working. He looked back at his arm but it was fading back to normal.

Muffled voices came through the door and he panicked, knowing he only had seconds. He grasped the man tighter around the neck and his arm began to morph into something else, or more like someone else. Hair sprouted from his arms and they grew slightly, the pain went away in his side and he heard a clatter as the wooden shard fell to the bathroom floor. He felt his face and turned to the mirror, now there were two of this man starring in horror at each other, except he was still wearing his own clothes.

"Oh…..oh….my….," the man started.

"Sorry man," Matt said, in his new voice.

"For……for….for….," the man stuttered.

"This," Matt said, slamming the man's head against the wall, knocking him out.

Matt knelt down and took the man's shirt, changing into it and taking his car keys. He took one last look in the mirror and frowned, his eyes were still blue, well actually one of them was blue the other was brown like the man's eyes. At closer inspection, his left eye was slowing turning blue. It was already wearing off, he might only have a few minutes at the most. He opened the door and cried out in shock as a man stood pointing a gun at him.

"Take what you want," Matt said," just don't……erm…hurt my kids,"

"Secret service," the man said," I am hunting a fugitive, a young man about 20,"

"Its just me and the kids here," Matt said, feeling his arms tingle as the hairs shrank slightly.

Another two men came from upstairs, replacing their tazars in their holsters, both looking gloomy and disappointed.

"There's no one here but some kids," one said.

"Lets get on and search the other houses," the first man said," sorry to bother you sir, have a nice day,"

The men left and Matt breathed out, not realising he had been holding his breath. He rushed out the front door immediately, leaping into the 4x4 parked on the drive. Looking in the mirror, he could see his unshaven face beginning to emerge, that was too close. He started the 4x4 and sped away, looking in the rear view mirror as a van pulled up in the street and five men clad in full black body armour and carrying assault rifles jumped out and began searching the neighbourhood.

"That was really close," he said to himself.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

Matt drove for almost an hour without event, keeping to roads with little traffic he pulled over into a side road and searched the car, finding some loose change of about three dollars fifty he decided he had better get some food while he had the chance.

He left the car parked on the other side of the street and entered a convenience store, first he looked around at the customers. He knew how to spot one of these guys a mile off now. Seeing only a young couple and two old men doing their shopping, he started browsing the shelves looking for some potatoe chips and cheap chocolate to keep him going until he found some more money.

A glance outside set his mind into motion, a car had parked up behind the one he had stolen and a young girl with straight blonde hair started walking towards the store. She didn't look like a government head-hunter, but he wasn't taking any chances. Matt ducked himself behind a pile of stacked boxes that someone was stacking shelves with and watched her enter, she fixed her eyes on one end of the store and swept slowly around, they passed by his position and she appeared not to have seen him.

Matt pretended to be interested in the cereal bars as the girl grabbed a trolley and slowly walked around, placing a few items in it he stopped holding his breath for the second time that day. Obviously he was being paranoid, if they knew where he was they wouldn't send a young girl like her to take him down. He knew how to fight if he had to and wouldn't give up easily, thinking she was probably just an innocent customer her went back to picking up a few things that he could afford. He could try and steal them but if he got caught it was only a matter of time before the cops handed him over to the government agents.

The girl passed by without as much as a glance at him, placing something in her trolley. He read the back of the cereal bars properly this time, realising they actually in fact looked quite nice and were only a doller for a box of eight.

"They don't work you know," a girls voice said in his ear, making him jump.

"What?" he replied, half shouting as he turned to face the same girl he thought was an agent.

"There for losing weight," she said, tossing back her blonde hair," tried them once, never did much for me,"

He saw this time, now that she was up close, that she had a strange look about her. This girl looked about his age or perhaps between eighteen and twenty one, but her eyes were full of a wisdom that told a different story. She looked older in the eyes, but younger in the rest of her.

He realised he was starring at her and looked away quickly; she let out a slight laugh and turned away as her phone began to ring. She answered it and Matt noticed that there was another person in her car, also on the phone.

He panicked as his eyes met with the girl's eyes, which held a aura of knowing about them. She reached out to take his arm, but he pulled away.

It must be a set up.

"Wait!" she cried out.

Matt ran to the back of the store as the girl's voice called out to him again, he pushed a staff member over and threw himself at the fire escape, which instantly set off the fire alarm. He bounded into the back alley and kept running, he emerged into an empty parking area for the store and looked for a way out. As he headed for a broken fence nearby, two cars swerved in front of him and two men got out of each.

"Get on the ground now!" one man ordered, aiming a handgun at him.

"Don't move," another shouted," show me your hands or we shoot kid,"

Frozen with terror, Matt rose his hands above his head and was forced to his knees as two men handcuffed him, this was it, it was over. He would be taken to some secret government base and executed, just because he was different.

"Miss," a man said," stay right there Miss or ill shoot,"

Matt looked up to see the girl walking towards the men, no longer smiling she was striding straight at them with a purpose. Her eyes were now full of hatred, but no fear despite facing four men with guns.

"Stay back," an agent said, pulling his tazar gun and aiming at her.

She grinned darkly, reaching for her back when the man fired the tazar. It stuck into her chest and she grabbed it, Matt could hear the electricity running through it but she pulled out the pin like nothing had hit her.

"Open fire!" one agent said.

"Shes one of them!" another cried, letting Matt fall to the ground, his face hitting the concrete after losing balance now that his hands were cuffed.

Matt rolled on his side as the men opened fire at the girl, three bullet holes appeared in her chest and she carried on, un phased by the fact she had just been shot. She pulled a gun from her back pocket, shooting one man in the leg as he went to punch her. The other two fired again at her hand, knocking her gun into the air and the next bullet struck her leg, exposing her skin. Matt looked on in shock as the bullet hole disappeared on her skin and sort of…..healed in front of his eyes.

Both men grabbed the girl and she flipped out, kicking one in the groin, punching him rapidly and spinning the second man over in some kind of martial arts move. She could sure take care of herself. The last man turned and ran, not wanting the same fate and she knelt by Matt, opening her phone.

"Ive got Parkman's kid," she said into the phone," get round here right away,"

"Who are you?" Matt asked.

"Im Claire," she smiled, as though nothing had just happened.

"I don't understand what just happened," Matt said.

"Your one of us," she said as a dark skinned man approached them.

He knelt by the two unconscious men and pulled a laptop from one of their bags.

"See if you can get a lead on their next target Micah," Claire said as she untied Matt.

"I've got it," the man said with a quick touch of the computer a photo popped up," their next target is Tiri Nakumora,"