Assassination of Memories
Prologue Part II- Riot At Hell's Gates
(A/N: when something belongs to Shadows just say her name not the weird sounding thing [example pronunciation: Shadowses], same thing with Artemis)

Shadows gave an irritated sigh looking at her watch. 3:24am; it was going to be a long wait for midnight to come. Everything was ready, but she hadn't been given a job today, no one was going to die at her hands. Even if she was given a job she'd tell her target to hole themselves up for the rest of their lives, she wasn't going to have blood on her hands anymore. All pictures she had made were now gone, stuffed underneath the mattress in rage, the only one left was the one of that boy. She couldn't give him any facial features, when ever she tried it didn't seem to be right, so Shadows had shaded the face where his hair didn't fall in his face. He had been in all her dreams, though would disappear when she saw him.

'Don't I have at least one job? Or has Father figured out what I'm going to do?' Shadows thought lying down on her bed. She couldn't come out until her door unlocked, then she could go around this level, to the mess hall, Father's room, the sports room, the Yard and the shooting range. Dinner was at 3:30, for the newborns it would be early but Shadows was already use to it. Most of the guys would be at the Yard right now, Shadows, for the first time in her life wished the psychopath lesbian Artemis would come to talk to her. Shadows was bored to say the least, at least at the Yard she could punch in some of the damn Copies' faces in.

Shadows brought up the map from CL's book. With her photographic memory Shadows knew all the levels of the Organization, all 70 escape routes. Yes, 70 escape exits, how the hell did none of the subjects Shadows just learned about not get out that way!? Though just escaping didn't seem right; Shadows felt like she should do something more. Even through the eight inch thick steel door Shadows could hear footsteps coming to her room. They were too heavy to be Artemis yet too light to be Copies. From sound alone Shadows figured a middle aged man? The door opened silently for normal humans but for Shadows the whispered whoosh was the signal she could leave her room before meals.

The smell of an East Indian male reached Shadows' nose, she could faintly smell after shave. Shadows cranked her head to see the stranger that smelled like spice who was standing at the door. His dark eyes glared at Shadows, dark hands in the pockets of his lab coat. His dark brown beard went down to his chest; his darker hair cut chin length. He was quite short maybe the same height as Shadows. She gave the Whitecoat a bored expression like nothing he said mattered. That's the only expressions Shadows had: bored, narrowed or rolled eyes and a smirk. She never really smiled, Shadows face was a mask that was impossible to read.

The Whitecoat spoke in a language Shadows did not know the name of but she understood. "You're wanted." Shadows jumped off the bed following the man quietly behind. Every couple moments he would glance over his shoulder to make sure Shadows was following him, every time she would look just above his head. As long as she didn't focus on his face for too long Shadows would save herself from a painful Flash; every Whitecoat was like that, painful information.

In the direction the pair was going was a faded scent of blood; Shadows flared her nostrils to catch more of the smell. 'Blood and Copies,' Shadows thought, 'What the hell are those damn dogs doing?' They turned right into a hallway and Shadows knew right away they were going to the Yard by the smell of dogs and the two double doors at the end of the hall. The doctor opened both doors, orange sunset light falling on Shadows' face.

The Yard was used for Copies or Erasers as their most well known, a place for them to cool down by playing soccer, football or poker, lifting weights and sometimes sparing. Shadows and Artemis were the only non-Eraser females there since all the male Erasers sexually harassed the new female Erasers the Organization made. Usually it was –to some extent–peaceful, usually.

Not today.

The Erasers were fighting amongst themselves and I don't mean yelling. I mean beating the living shit out of each other. Some of them were dead; most of them were bleeding though not going to die this evening. Shadows looked to the left as the outside Yard breeze blew a familiar scent over. Artemis the Maniac was sitting up on the pole that the meal buzzer hung from, smiling down at the scene below her with a crazed look in her almost black eyes. She loved death and killing in any shape or form though torture was her favourite pat time.

Wordlessly the Whitecoat handed Shadows a rifle. Zephyr was made to be as silent as possible; there was no way in hell that Shadows would get their attention with her handgun. Shadows loaded the rifle cocking it making the gun do the ch-chk it was famous –or infamous– for. Some Erasers stopped fighting at the sound their eyes widening at the sight of a rifle and Panther Shadows in the same freaking bundle. The ear-splitting gun shot cut through all noise a bird flying above fell into the electric mesh 20 ft up, the lifeless body being shocked with 500 watts of electricity. Artemis frowned when the fighting stopped however her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw Shadows.

The Whitecoat cleared his throat speaking the best English he could. "You must stop all of this pathetic fight among yourselves; the Director does not take kindly to having fights this large." He said in a thick Indian accent. He continued, "You must not present yourselves as idiots, the Organization has almost figured out how to remake the robots made previously by Itex and if you keep acting like this I guarantee you'll all be terminated. Transform back to your human forms, you will give bad impressions to those who seek you." With that said he left, the few Eraser half or fully morphed went back to looking like male supermodels.

'Their all children.' Shadows thought in disappointment. The Eraser started going back to, somewhat, normal activities, Shadows moved away from the door lying down on the grass 10 feet from the tether ball court. Father didn't like big fights so maybe if she made some noise when she escaped…

"Waz up?" Artemis' voice broke Shadows out of a runaway train of thought. She gazed up to see Artemis kneeling behind Shadows' head, Artemis' face above Shadows' face. Her long shoulder length red hair hung down and she gave Shadows a smile leaning closer. Shadows put her hand in Artemis' face to feel Artemis had puckered her lips slightly.

Artemis' eyes flew open, "What the hell!?" she mumbled into Shadows' hand. Shadows rammed her hand up making the lesbian fall on her butt. "Come on, what's wrong with you?" Artemis whined like a two-year-old. Shadows rolled her eyes, 'You're just itching to kiss a girl.'

Artemis sighed plopping down to lie beside Shadows. "So guess who got the fight started?" Artemis asked. The assassin gave the psycho a bored look to say 'do I look like I care?' "Mmm huh, me that's who," Artemis pointed at herself with her thumb. "Just had to get them worked up that's all." Artemis folded her hands behind her head staring up at the sky, a victory smile on her face. 'Ya that sounds like you. If you didn't do it on a regular basis I would know something was wrong.' Shadows thought staring blankly up at the sky. The clouds were tinged pinkish orange, the sky ablaze with oranges, purples and reds. This was the last day she would spend here; Shadows could remember when she had first come to the Organization like it was a week ago.

**Start of Flashback**

The girl stared around her room with curiosity written all over her face. Beside her Father came up giving the girl a genuine smile. "What do you think? Better than sleeping in rubble, right?" he laughed.

She blinked at him nodding slowly. His voice was perfect, feeling like velvet to her ears, very different from the deep rough voices she was used to. Father turned rolling to the door, "Once the buzzer goes off your door will unlock, go to the smell of food. Stay away from the elevator and stay in you room until the buzzer goes off or someone comes to get you, okay sweetheart?"

Sweetheart, Rinslet had called her that and Angelia. She nodded and Father began to leave. He had told her to hold her tongue but she couldn't help but ask. "Father what is my name?" she called. She doubted that it was the number around her neck she hid behind her shirt and even though Rinslet called her Angelia she didn't like it.

"Shadows," Father said glancing over his shoulder, "Panther Shadows."

**End of Flashback**

"Hellooo, Earth to Shadows! Hey buddy can ya hear me in that big smart head of yours?" Artemis banged her fist on Shadows' head. With one swift movement Shadows was off the ground and punched Artemis in the face. The crazy girl fell back for the second time that day holding her nose. "Jeez don't have to punch me! You were muttering something." She said her voice slightly muffled.

"HEADS!"

The hard ball hit Shadows square in the back of the head, knocking her over. The tether ball rolled aside Shadows face down in the dirt. All noise stopped and the Yard became deadly quiet, the Erasers from the tether ball court becoming frozen. From a window above the Director looked out to see why it had become suddenly quiet. He was quite angry to see that one of the idiots of Erasers had knocked his precious Shadows down.

Back down at the Yard Shadows didn't move a muscle. She stayed where she was, looking very dead. Everyone held their breath in some ways hoping she wouldn't get up. "Who did that?" the cold voice said from the ground. The Erasers on the tether ball court pointed to the largest, he looked at them with horror in his eyes. Shadows slowly moved her hands so they were closer to her body levering herself up. Shadows stood, turning towards the group of Erasers behind her. The larger one's eyes were as round as dinner plates staring at her in fear. Though it was the fact she could have that blank of a face that scared him, that she had no emotion when she killed someone.

The gunshot rang through the air made everyone jump, the large Eraser falling to the ground. Right at his forehead was a perfect hole that started to bleed; some of the new Erasers jumped forward to rip the body apart at the smell of blood. The dinner buzzer went off at that moment the new Erasers grabbing their ears in pain. It was more a high pitch squeal than anything, only the Erasers, Shadows and Artemis included, could hear it. It had hurt Shadows' ears the first week but she got used to it right away. All the Erasers went to the mess hall parting for Shadows as she walked through the crowd.

'Though I'll make an exception for these bastards.' She thought.

Shadows hated waiting. It was going to be at least ten minutes before she could get going from this hell hole. Underneath the bed was a dark messenger bag with her two books and change of clothes. Right now she wore a black cloak that covered her entire body, the over sized hood covering most of her face yet she could still see. She had a belt put on underneath, draping across her hip Zephyr in the gun holster. Her now violet eyes calmly looked around the room to see if she wanted to take anything else. 'This is it, time to live in the outside world.' Shadows thought. She had plainly told Artemis her plan before at dinner. "Ya sorry about that, I didn't know when to tell you. I'll leave something at your door before you go." Artemis had said. Artemis hated Father, Shadows knew that, and wondered what Artemis had left her.

A soft click made Shadows look over to the door and she smirked. The door only opened from the outside and would not unlock unless you opened the door. Well after a little tinkering in the controls room Shadows timed the door to unlock five minutes before midnight. Up in the control room no one noticed Shadows' door was unlocked, it didn't come up on the monitor.

Shadows grabbed the bag, slinging it across one shoulder, over the cloak. A pit was slowly growing in her stomach but she ignored it. After dinner Shadows had done some more work; around the lower levels of the Organization. She had found a highly explosive room, the boiler room and an escape route with trapped subjects along the way. Shadows stood near the door, waiting. She had to be precise with her timing, there were security cameras along the hallways though none in her room; if she didn't get this right, they would see her door open slightly then be closed without movement. On the table behind her was a paper flower beside the folder of her new mission. Shadows opened the door right when twelve hit, staring at the folder as the door closed.

Kill Maximum Ride.

Shadows tuned to see a small metal brief case leaning against the wall. She knelt down and put it in her bag, going to look at it when she was far from the Organization. She ran quietly, coming up to the hallway that went to the elevator. Shadows pressed herself against the wall checking the air to see if anyone was there. Two, maybe three Whitecoats and a few Erasers. She could hear the Whitecoats talking about some tests, the three Erasers that were by the elevator chatted about how they never got any action up here. 'For the night they must put them there to keep anyone from going down.' Shadows thought. 'This could put a speed bump in my escape.'Well she was going to make some noise any way. She turned the corner walking towards the elevator. "You there, you're not supposed to be up here." A male Whitecoat said. There were three of them in a group near the wall, two Erasers on the sides of the elevator, one right in front of the door. "Who are you, how did you get up here?" The Whitecoat demanded.

"Curiosity killed the cat."

Before anyone could speak the Whitecoat was down followed with a silenced gunshot. Three birds with one stone as the life left all the Whitecoats' eyes. "The alarm!" One of the Erasers roared. Sooner than the Eraser could hit the small button near the door he was down with a shot however not going without a shriek. Erasers though seemed to follow anger more than logic; one of them could have pressed the alarm, and one could have gone after Shadows but seeing their fallen comrade they both charged at Shadows. She jumped forward, dealing out a round house kick on the first one, breaking his ribs. Another kick with the same foot was planted in the second Eraser's face, shoving the bones of his nose into his brain killing him even though it had less power than the first one. After the elevator had not come up when Shadows pressed the button and she heard it going down, she took a crowbar from an Eraser and pried the doors open. The elevator was quickly reseeding into darkness, being in good working condition. Shadows jumped landing with a faint thud on top of the elevator, opened the maintenance hatch, landing inside the elevator's cabin.

The elevator slowed to stop, dinging at arrival. The doors opened, a bunch of Whitecoats jumped back in surprise. "What the he─" the all feel and Shadows shot out, getting cries of surprise in return. "What in the name of Dracula the Great is going on here!?" The Director bellowed. "It's Shadows sir, she going on a rampage!" one Whitecoat said on the two way radio. "She's taking out everyone on level 6, and….MY LORD SHE'S LETTING OUT ALL THE SUBJECTS!" another Whitecoat shrilled.

More Whitecoats yelled things to the Director but with so many voices going at once, even the great Director couldn't pick up anything. "ALL OF YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTHS AND ONE AT A TIME!" the Director howled through a clenched jaw. He felt like he was teaching kindergartners, it was really pissing him off. Suddenly there was an explosion shaking the Organization to its core. "What the hell was that?!" The Director cried.

"Sir the boiler room just went." Someone said.

"Excuse me!?"

"Sir?" another Whitecoat said. "Well someone better be dying!" The Director snarled. The Whitecoat on the other end of the line, stood at the door of the room he was at, staring in horror at the thing in front of him. The bright red numbers counted down from what looked like three minutes.

"There's a ticking time bomb in the explosives room."

There was silence throughout the intercom system except the screams, roars, and shrieks of humans and subjects alike. "Oh…shit." The Director said.

Now back to havoc making Shadows; she was making it much, much harder for herself by going through all halls with subjects and blowing them free of their cages and experiments, when she could have just stuck with her before plan and gone straight down to where her Vectrix was. 'Okay I have to get out of here, I think I have plenty mayhem for one day.' Shadows thought heading towards the second elevator. She needed the level below 1, the first level of the parking garage.

Shadows was like a ghost, looking like she wasn't touching the ground as she rushed through another hallway, with conference and staff rooms. Just ahead of her, a cart was wheeled by five Erasers, a boy inside of a complicated cage. With Zephyr titled slightly Shadows pulled the trigger, the bullet destroying the supposed shatter proof glass. The Erasers snarled at her, Shadows snarling also jumped forward, kneeing one in the gut. He fell, another Eraser grabbed onto Shadow' shoulders. She grabbed his wrist with both hands, ripping him off and swinging the Eraser into two of his companions so he pinned the other two to the wall. The last one fell with one shot from Zephyr and Shadows was off followed by the boy.

"Hey wait up! Who are you? Why did you help me?" the boy asked running beside Shadows. He had chin length dark auburn hair that was a rat's nest, and big hazel eyes that stared at Shadows in confusion, he was at least eight, maybe nine years old. His olive skin was slightly pale and his running was more stumbling but he kept up with Shadows any how. Shadows ignored him until he brushed slightly against her, "I'm coming with you." He said sincerely. Shadows glanced over to him, "You have to keep up." She said simply as more Erasers appeared from another hallway. Shadows lifted Zephyr to shoot them down when their own shadows completely devoured the Erasers. Shadows blinked, and the boy ran ahead of her, the elevator door opening up, the Whitecoats inside being sucked in by another shadow.

"Come on, what floor?" the boy called. Shadows jumped in quickly pressing the P1 button, just to have the elevator stop half-way between level 4 and 3. "What's happening?" the boy said looking at Shadows. "They stopped the elevator." She said plainly. Using Zephyr to blow the maintenance hatch off Shadows climbed on top of the elevator. The boy followed her looking around. "How is this going to help?" he asked. Shadows got onto all fours, ripped the cover of the vent off and crawled inside. The boy followed her trying to figure out who the cloaked stranger was. 'She's weird, and she doesn't really answer my questions.' He thought. "Alright just tell me this," he said grabbing onto her ankle to stop her. She looked at him, her pupils becoming slits. "Just tell me what your name is." He said.

"Shadows, Panther Shadows." She said jerking her leg away from the boy continuing on. "I don't really don't have a name, my cage said F38729956-20P." the boy smiled weakly. 'Great what a mouth full.' Shadows thought rolling her eyes.

"So um, how do we get out of here?" the boy asked. Shadows sniffed the air following the smell of gasoline to a vent that swooped down. "Erasers!" the boy cried accidentally pushing Shadows down head first into the descending vent. The smell and sound of Erasers was lost as the pair of escapees slid down the vent, the boy shouting all the way down. Clanging filled Shadows' ears cutting the boy off as she was beaten by the vent on the way down, hitting the bottom painfully when the vent suddenly straightened. The odd subject pushed Shadows to the opening of the vent, both of them landing in a heap underneath the vent opening.

"Oww, that's going to leave a mark." The boy moaned and sat up, rubbing his sore neck. Shadows pushed herself from lying to standing with her arms, looking around. She spotted the Vectrix quickly going over to it, the boy on her heals. "Nice bike." He commented. Shadows shrugged getting on, and flipping the kickstand up. The boy got on behind her, holding onto her shoulders as Shadows started the bike. It quietly hummed to life, the tires squealing under them as the bike griped the pavement lurching off. Shadows drove the bike to its maximum speed, an Eraser moved in the way to stop them. Realizing he wasn't going to be able to stop a stampede he ducked hoping Shadows would miss him.

The bike underwent a quick earthquake, a thud and snap coming from under the bike and the dark red trail the tires made as Shadows sped the Vectrix up after the road kill had slowed it down. The boy squeezed his eyes shut daring not to look behind him, his grip tightening so much Shadows thought he was going to break her shoulders. A speed bump catapulted the bike into the air, landing on the pavement outside, the wind a treat to both Shadows' and the boy's face. Shadows raced the bike as fast as it would go to get far away from the damn Organization. The bag whacked itself repeatedly on her side with CL's books being rattled around against the brief case.

Shadows didn't look back even when her explosion went off; whereas the boy stared back watching a fire start to build. He remembered when they had to suddenly leave the last Organization two days after those other subjects escaped. He remembered the girl had tried to get him out to no avail and he thought he would never get out after that. Suddenly the boy remembered his manners, "Hey Shadows thanks for rescuing me."

She didn't answer, at first. Then when he just started to doze off she spoke.

"Your welcome, Tranq."