Hi! Beat-Box-Babe here, and I welcome you to Chapter Two of "A Writer's Tale"!

Mayhemb; Hope you enjoy and have fun!

Present

The years of experiments seemed to slowly fade into one another as time held no more meaning. Every few months or so it seemed one of the scientists would give her a mumbled "happy birthday", but Maya never registered the words it seemed.

Her hair had grown a bit longer, going to just above her waist. Sometimes they would cut it if it would get in the way of the tests, but normally they didn't.

The strands would either get burned off from the fire or lasers.

The tests, they told her, were the same for everyone here. They'd go in, get a few shots, maybe some incisions….

But some didn't, mind the pun, cut it for her.

They were fascinated by how her body could turn into ink, so once the skin would heal from her liquid stage, they'd see what had happened on the inside. Before and after all the surgeries though they let her have some "fun" inside a glass room with different kinds of inks. Sometimes they'd let her in large metal rooms where there would be fire or electricity coursing through everything….Or the mechanics would pull out the floor, making her ink body almost drown in the water...

Pain became an odd numb feeling it seemed after a little while, especially as she stared blankly at the white painted room. In her head she recited the books and poetry she had read, and whatever little novel another person would be reading a few cells down from her. Some of the guards would read to them, as if it would help all of them.

But to Maya it did. It gave her a small, temporary, exit out of this hellhole. Her once beloved hideaway in the books had come back to her in these short moments.

Maybe that was why she mumbled poems and passages beneath her breath as she stood there in her cell, awaiting her next trial. Waiting to see what new skill they would have her test or try to create.

"Maya." Her chapped lips sealed from her poem as the female looked up, hazel eyes staring at Augustine. "I hope you're ready."

The prisoner quirked an eyebrow in confusion as she thought to herself. Ready? For what? Another test? Wait, no...She wouldn't be here if it was simply for that...

Three guards then unlocked and entered her cell, unhooking the clear plastic chains that held up her special hand containment unit from the ceiling. The chains were held by two of the guards as the final one held a gun-like object in his hand, pointing it at Maya's back as the four started walking through the corridors.

Her eyes scanned everything she could as she tried to drink in all the colors. All the faces, all the sights…

It wasn't much but it was better than the constant blanc faces of the scientists and doctors she saw...

They passed through a few doors until finally they came to a large iron one, where they had to be open by the guards.

Maya felt such joy in breathing in fresh cold air of the outdoors that surrounded the entire facility, yet the moment was cut short by the gun bumping her back.

"Come on ya freak, move it." The girl sighed through her nose before continuing her small lumbar walk towards a metal truck that had-PEOPLE! Real people, other than those men and woman in white.

Dear god yes! No D.U.P.s or- "GET IN THE TRUCK!"

Apparently going off to La-La land caused her to stop, yet the Blake girl entered the armored vehicle and sat across from the other female conduit. On her left was a male with glasses covering his eyes.

The door to the containment vehicle was shut and the group was lurched towards their new prison.

While everyone was rather morose and quiet, Maya couldn't help but grin as she stared out of the small window on the door. The windows showed the flecks of snow that fluttered past them. In her mind she thought of a poem by Emily Dickinson, Snowflakes. Her lips gently whispered it under her breath as her eyes watched the white specks. "I counted till they danced so, their slippers leaped the town. And then I took a pencil, to note the rebels down. And then they grew so jolly, I did resign the prig, And ten of my once stately toes, are marshaled for a jig."

"Hey, Bio-Terrorist, shut up." One of the guards in the front said to her, making the Blake female frown. Yet her iris' fluttered down from the window, to the three people with her. She took in their appearances, their gestures, their simple shifting of their eyes…

"...What're you lookin' at?" The woman in front of her finally spoke up as the Ink Manipulator left her eyes on her.

"Your hair….It's such a lovely hue, or perhaps a tint is what it is…" Maya whispered out with a small smile, bright hazel eyes filled with both joy and fascination. "But nonetheless it's so vibrant..! True I've never been the biggest fan of magenta or of the pink products but-"

"Hey…! What did I just say?" The armored soldier once again spoke up. "Shut up and get some shut-eye or something. It's gonna be a long trip…."

Maya's frown grew then as the thoughts of going back to her nightmares appeared...This didn't seem all too appealing...Besides, this would be the last time she'd be able to talk to other people probably.

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"You are excused peon." The redhead turned to her companions with a wide grin. "So, what powers do my brothers and sister hold?"

Miss Pink Hair gave her a smirk in return. "I'll show ya sometime kid, when these cuffs aren't on us."

"Likewise. I shall show you mine, m'dear, when our shackles are released." Hazel eyes then turned left to the two male prisoners with them. "What of the two gents with us?"

"Uh...Maybe some other time." The boy in glasses softly mumbled, and once again the guard up front yelled at them.

"SHUT UP!"

Maya's nose scrunched in annoyance as she looked to the bald male diagonally across from her, who seemed to be chewing something. Her eyebrow quirked in confusion at this, only for both of them to be raised when the man opened his mouth a tiny bit. She saw a flicker of light reflecting off of something shiny.

It was like a ray of hope in all honesty.

It would be their key to freedom.

...

The Ink Master nodded her head slightly to the tattooed male, before producing a fake yawn. "Perhaps a small respite would be sufficient…It has been a while since I have slept on a flat surface."

"I don't know what the hell you just said, but I want you to just. Shut. Up." The guard said in an exasperated tone.

Maya huffed through her nose a bit, whispering under her breath, referencing a certain frabjous writer named Lewis Carroll. "Unexpected really, to see the Tweedles' lips are more voluminous than their heads…."

Yet to her confusion, her ears picked up on a small snicker beside her, making the hazel eyes stare at the now slightly smirking gent beside her. Upon her iris' laying on him though the spectacle wearing man went back to a stoic, yet almost embarrassed, demeanor.

A simper appeared on her lips as she nudged towards the male, leaning forward so she could look properly at his face. "Would the White Rabbit mind if the Cheshire Cat took a rest over him?"

The man writhed a bit in his spot, uncomfortable with her attention. "Uhm..No, I guess not…"

"Many thanks to you." With that Maya spun a bit in her seat, having her back to the male, before maneuvering her way under his hand container and resting on his lap. "Tell me when you find my presence uncomfortable, and I shall depart."

It was a bit too late for him to be 'uncomfortable' really….But the glasses wearing conduit nodded his head with an awkward blush, lightly resting his yellow restraint atop her clear one. "O-Okay…"

In the back of her mind she knew that, had he told her to get off, she probably wouldn't have. Seeing the male's varying expressions was too fun for right now….Yet for a moment she had to pry her iris' away from him to look at the man with the metal in his mouth, mouthing words to him.

"You pick, I will cover you." Six simple, mouthed, words were all it took for the bald tattooed man to smirk. So Maya leaned back and crossed her ankles, her eyes just peaking out from a crack in her eyelids. They were going to escape.

Just as she had mouthed the Blake girl covered the bald man, whose name was apparently Hank, when he began his work. He spoke only to give the guards a false sense of security, as if he wasn't doing anything with his cuffs or with a skillfully hidden paperclip.

Hank however didn't work on his own cuffs, but on Maya's. This was probably due to the fact that her's was the only one where they could see the lock's insides.

While the metal scraped into her containment unit the Ink Master used her "sleeping" to help the Conduit. When the work began the Ink Manipulator began snoring to cover up the noise of the metal, but not of their voices.

So the group around her got a small rant from the bald escape artist about his young daughter, how he was hoping to see her again an-

click

Four sets of eyes landed on Maya's clear hand restraint, just as she felt the clasp of it loosen. She began "awaking", causing the male she was laying on to raise his arms to allow her up.

Once upright the Scottish-Greek kept her back to the chain and holed glass panel that separated the D.U.P. from them. Slowly her device was placed on the bench in front of her and for the first time in what felt like forever she slipped her hands free.

Free.

Oh how frabjous that word was.

Hank gave her a large grin at the sight of the woman's hands slipping from the plexiglass-like object. "Enjoy your nap Sunshine?"

"I did a bit...But in all honesty?" Her fingers flexed lightly in an attempt to wake them up. "I'm delighted to be awake."

The woman across from her smirked delightfully. "So, you asked us earlier what we could do...But ya never said what you can do."

"I can drain pigments and ink to create ink itself." Her digits then pressed up against Hank's hand container. "It's a nice handy-dandy tool if I may say so myself."

Already the familiar hunger arose from inside both her mind and body. Her arm and hand made a black and white flowing glow it seemed as the color drained from the metal sphere.

The three other conduits all kept quiet as Hank's restraint became clear it seemed, and Maya's hunger was slightly subsided. It wasn't much, but it should be enough to get them out.

Keeping her back to the guards the Ink Master rolled her right wrist, rubbing the bones against one another before the hand changed into a black substance.

Then finally into a black liquid.

Ink appendages flexed to check if they were working before the Blake girl leaned over towards Hank. The fluid seeped into the holes and crevices of the once-clear device and with a simple flicker of motion-

The bald man grinned as he pulled his hand out of the mass of blank liquid, which both silenced and held the circular restraint.

Slowly Maya put the device down before rolling her other hand, preparing to free the two other Conduits.

"Do you guys need to go to the bath-" The driver was cut off when his buddy beside him turned around and looked, seeing Hank free.

"SHIT! HE'S LOSE!"

"WHAT?!" The driver now turned around to look back also, taking his attention off the road ahead.

"Watch the road you idiots!" The girl with magenta hair yelled loudly at the D.U.P. officers. The one in the passenger seat got out his gun though and got ready to fire.

"PUT BACK ON THE HAND RESTRAINTS OR I'LL SHOOT!"

"No thank you!" The woman with black hands raised her hands up as the ink flowed from her, forming on the ground, and erected an ink wall that separated the two groups.

Hank smirked at the younger woman across from him. "Nice moves kid."

"If they stop the car, then we'll be trapp-" The glasses wearing teen was cut off when the truck lurched to the side for some reason.

The four prisoners moved along with it, only for everyone of them to yell when they felt the entire vehicle flip over.

Why wasn't freedom ever easy to acquire?

We hope you enjoyed the new chapter, and Mayhemb and I hope we can see you all in the next one! Ta for now~!