(Swiss Alps-27 years ago)
"You have done well, all of you."
They were a motley crew. A mixture of men and women that never should have been brought together. Yet, here they were.
Merrick Delpine, the master of air pressure, the cold hearted killer that enjoyed squeezing the life out of his victims.
Quint, the stone sculpture, the Bronx breed man that hid his powerful family connections behind his thick accent and blunt ways.
Rodreck Jones, poison to all near him, a cunning thief that had but one equal in that trade.
Special Agent Lorenzo Bast, lord of the insect kingdom, where ever a bug hid he had eyes there.
Gabriella Vega, the queen of shadows, the youngster of the group, the Brazilian beauty.
Ashleigh Delpine, the one-woman army, the wicked street brawler.
Marie O'Donald, the controller of minds, the unfeeling assassin.
Before them stood their teacher, the man that had brought them together. None knew his real name, or his place of birth. He had emerged from parts unknown 40 years ago, slaughtering all in his path until he had been allowed into the Alliance. He was known only by his nickname, given because of the tattoo he bore, a great blue dragon running along his right cheek, down his shoulder, twisting around his chest, past his hip and ending at his left ankle.
He was Drago. Though age had taken a toll on his body, reducing the once powerful man to a bent, crippled thing, he was still powerful. Fire was his plaything of choice, able to breath it from his mouth much like his namesake. Each of the seven young people before him had faced his fires.
He had made quick work to select the strongest of the teens and children without the society, taking them all as his students, training them and preparing them. Some, like Gabriella, he had brought in with much success. Others...others had been replacements for those he had failed to nab.
But now, these young men and women had passed his final tests, had destroyed all others in their way, and risen to be the best of the best.
"You have done all I have asked of you, and in doing so, become the most powerful team on the planet. Together, not even God will be able to stop you." The old man grinned. "Together, we shall stand against the coming storm, we shall assault the gates, and we shall..."
Drago fell to the ground, clutching his head.
"You know, I've listened to a lot of your shit these last few years." Marie said softly, examining her nails as Drago screamed. "I have heard you prattle on about how powerful you are, how amazing you are, how you are the greatest amoung us and can do whatever you want. But then, I realized that you aren't any of these things. You are nothing more than a sad, pathetic husk of a man, using us to continue your legacy. There is a problem with that though, Drago: You trained me too well." Marie focused, holding out her hand, causing Drago to scream. "Consider this my Senior Thesis."
Drago twitched, blood pouring from his eyes as he screamed, before his body grew still.
"I am your new leader." Marie said calmly, stepping forward. "You don't like it, you can join our old teacher."
The other 6 quickly nodded.
^&^&^&^
(Odessa-8 Years Ago)
It is amazing how the mind works.
In order to sort through the vast array of memories one encounters, their brains work through the mess by assigning different codes or reminders to each one. One might remember color; the red of a birthday cake, the white of a baseball. Or perhaps more by smell; fresh spring grass, or baby powder.
For Joe Dougal, as was most of his life...everything came back to sound.
For the 40 odd years of his life, sound had always been his companion. Memories of his mother and father were of lullabies and cheers at his baseball games. School was a series of cheers and the roar of the crowd as his bat cracked and he won the City Tournement for his team. The girls he had dated, the women he had made love to, their little sighs and murmurs paraded in his brain. The ticking of the clock when he found himself in that cell, awakening after blacking out during a minor league game. The speech...the speech by that man...
Petrelli.
"You are impressive." Arthur Petrelli had told him, his voice barely a whisper but to Joe it was as if he spoke through a megaphone. "Do you know why you blackout? I doubt it. You have an abaility...you are able to amplify sound, or mute it to nothingness. At the ballpark, your powers activated, knocking you out from the cheers of the crowd, as well as putting half the crowd in the hospital. Now...normally we would arrest you, throw you in a cell...but I believe you have potential. I think...yes...I think you can be a great asset to us."
With that speech, his new life began. A world of firing guns, the screams of the deranged, the praise of the weak now saved. He had become a hero, arisen anew and made better.
Then...her.
Her sounds were of laughter, his. Of joy pouring from his heart as this young woman, in the flower of youth, fell for an old man like him. All others fell behind him as he embraced her, an angel sent down to him, blessed beyond all others.
He remembered his speech to her, just a few short days ago, telling her of his power, of the men and women he worked for...asking her to marry him.
He remembered her saying yes.
And now...a new memory was forming.
The sound of her heart weakening.
The gurgle of blood through the bullet hole in her chest.
Her dying words.
"They did...this, Joe."
The Company.
Then silence.
Joe paused as he heard it...the second heartbeat, the weaker one...
His child.
His daughter's death.
"Joe?" His partner whispered, stepping over the threshold. Joe hadn't returned to headquarters for days...he'd been sent to find him, only to witness the man who could control sound with a whim cradling the chilled corpse of his love, his jacket still pressed to her wound.
Joe's head snapped up.
"She called me Joe." He stated, his voice calm as he snapped his fingers, blowing a hole through his partner's chest. "The angels called me Joe." He stood up, marching outside to find company agents all around his home. "I don't work for angels..." He muttered.
He held up his hands.
"Tell the Devil he can call me Joseph."
SNAP
Their screams would last a long time in his mind.
^&^&^&^
(Las Angeles- 4 Years Ago)
Vally giggled as she darted away from Madrid, her sister chasing after the 10 month old as she weaved her way around the doctor's office.
"Hey!" Madrid shouted, annoyed. "Hey!" Vally turned, peering from behind the medical table, flashing a happy grin before she zoomed towards the door. Madrid darted forward, scooping up the baby right before the door swung open, the doctor entering.
"Well...someone is happy." He commented, smiling down at Vally. The baby was clad only in a white Huggies diaper, her hair held in place by a pink headband. The little girl giggled happily, clapping her hands.
Her sister, dressed in a red blouse and black leather pants, was not happy, nor did she appear at all like she belonged, or wanted to be, at a pediatrician.
"Oh, she's a laugh riot." Madrid snarled.
The doctor nodded. "Of course, of course." He looked over his notes. "Now, I apologize for Dr. Harper not being in, but rest assure, I am perfectly able to conduct the examination on your daughter."
Madrid's eyes widened. "Uh...no no no no no!" She exclaimed, shaking her head rapidly. "no no no!" She backed slowly away, holding Vally out as if she were a bag of manure. "I'm only her sister, and not by choice!"
Valencia began to whimper.
"Hey, knock that off!" Madrid commanded, setting Valyl down on the doctor's table. The baby looked up at her, face puckered up as tears formed. "I said knock it off! Mom and Dad asked me to take you to your stupid appointment, which means I had to call off my spa day with the girls, I do not want to hear a peep out of you, understand?"
Vally burst into tears.
The doctor raised an eyebrow. "You aren't that good with children, are you?" He walked over, scooping Vally up and rocking her back and forth. The baby murmured, sniffing softly as her tears subsided.
"Hey, I have no problem with kids...I just don't like lugging them around." Madrid glared at Vally. "And the amount of work I have to do for that woman..."
"No sisterly love?"
Madrid shrugged. She could care less what this doctor thought. "Mom and dad wanted another kid. That's fine. Doesn't mean I have to like her sobbing at all hours and getting into my things."
The doctor watched as Vally reached out for Madrid, wanting to be held, only for her sister to ignore her and turn away. "She seems to like you."
"She also enjoys pooping in her own pants, we see how smart she is." Madrid's phone chimed. "Listen, I need to take this, you mind?"
The doctor waved his hand. "Go."
Madrid nodded, hurrying out of the office.
Once she was gone, the doctor turned toward back to the toddler. "If only she knew, Vally." Daniel Linderman said with a small smile. "If only she knew the power you held." He set the baby back on the table, producing a small rattle from his pocket. Vally happily took it, though she did continue to cast glances at the door. "A pity you are stuck with her as a mother, my dear. But, then again, I did not select her for her maternal instincts." He grabbed a file, glancing over it before he pulled out a stethoscope. "Though, I suspect that if she pulled her head from her own ass, she might do a half way decent job."
Vally squealed when the cold metal was pressed to her chest, smacking Linderman with the rattle.
The Company Founder laughed. "I suppose I deserve that." He warmed it up a bit, before returning once more to checking her heartbeat. "How ironic..." He stated, making note of the strong heart rate, "your mother is suppose to be the one that will grant you control of your abilities, but it is your father that I suspect would be the better parent." He pulled out another file, holding it out for the baby to see. Inside, Carter Daniels' senior picture stared back at the child. "See your daddy right here? His powers haven't shown yet, but when they do, he is going to be a very powerful man. Perhaps he would be of use to me...whatever his abilities are. He has already provided me with a grand weapon." He poked Vally's nose. "You."
The baby looked at Linderman, confused by his actions.
"I must admit, a part of me wants to take you right now. Your adopted parents are always away...and your birthmother, even if she doesn't know of your connection to her, cares more for herself than you." He sighed. "But, sadly, I have to wait. Need to see what your power is, need to plan for everything...but rest assured, I'll be coming for you soon enough. An accident to take care of your adopted parents, push your sister's buttons a little...and you will be all mine." He smiled, stroking her hair. "Afterall, who else is better suited to care for you than your creator?"
"Da-da!"
Linderman's eyes widened.
"Da-da!" Vally squealed again, grabbing ahold of Carter's phone, waving it happily in her hand. "Da-da, da-da, da-da!"
"Hey, we need to cut this short!" Madrid said, bursting into the room. "I was able to schedule a new spa appointment, and they agreed to give the squirt a free baby-spa day or something like that." She snatched Vally up, plucking the photo from her hands, the toddler begining to grunt in frustration, trying to grab the photo from her sister. "Huh, cute guy." She muttered, handing Carter Daniels' photo back to the stunned Linderman, brushing past him and out into the waiting room.
Linderman himself shook himself from his spot, hurrying out of the examination room. Never did any of them notice the man in the black hoodie enter the room, snatching the file Linderman had left behind.
"So...this is father of the Avatar..." The young, tall, dark skinned man said, his hoodie sliding down to reveal a blue dragon tattoo upon his right cheek. "I'll be watching you with great interest..." Drago said.
^&^&^&^
Author's Note: no, I did not screw up describing Drago. That was on purpose.