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"Sorry, m-my door was unlock and I got confused...was this a test? Was I supposed to leave? I didn't know..." She said with an added scared glint in her eye. Maybe she could worm her way out of the her situation...maybe. It was often how Nexa usually escaped trouble back before the lab and she was very skilled at acting, at pretending.
"Could you help me? I'm lost and need to find a way back, I was up there because something scared me." Nexa put on her best innocent face as she looked at the guards hoping they wouldn't shoot her again. She didn't know if she fooled the guards but she at least hoped that she would confuse them enough to leave her unharmed. Her hopes weren't too high for that outcome.
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Ash shook her head in disbelief as Kishan more or less ordered her to break Kyra's neck when they found her. Was he insane?! She had seen animals like tigers in the Games, she knew doing that could easily kill her! And that was if she got into a spot where she could make the attempt! She closed her eyes, trying once again to find them along the winds, but it was obvious they were deeper inside than she could get from this far a distance. In her half assed focus, the pot on the stove erupted into flame(the thing was still hot enough for her to use its energy), and she squawked in alarm. Matt frowned, stopping the flamew sith a quick movement of his wrist, just as the Daren person came into the room to figure out what was wrong.
Daren
The smell of smoke had woken Daren from a fitful, restless sleep, full of images of his sister's body and those of her kids. He bolted up from his bed and into the front room, looking around. After some hurried explanation from the older boy, Matt, he learned that Ash had briefly lost control of her abilities. She was looking down, extremely embarrassed; he smiled, going over to her and leading her to one of the other small bedrooms. It had belonged to his sister's youngest, and the bed should be around the right size for a girl so small. He could hear Matt's worried footfalls behind him as he opened the door to the room, leading her to the bed and tucking her in gently. The girl immediately tensed, wriggled free of the blankets and pulled them into an almost nest around herself; he couldn't help but laugh a little as he left, turning out the light. Matt leaned against the door frame, watching his little sister with the intense gaze of one who had lost everything, and flat out refused history repeating itself around him.
"Yes, She is the one in charge, and you would do best not to forget that title. Call her by that full name, or 'milady', but never just call her Carmine. Neither you nor I have earned that yet...." Yet? So at some point, she would be best friends with the lady in charge of this place? He led her up even more stairs, and soon she found herself in the presence of many, many people. Scientists. She shrunk back a little, eyes focused on the ground. Cameron himself even said the ones to be feared were the scientists. She managed to look up, but when she saw they were all staring at her, she dropped her gaze downward once again.
"Cameron, are they going to hurt me?" One last question. She whispered it too, making sure none of the scientists would hear it. Any of the other mutants could, yes, but they weren't there. When Elle spoke to him, she looked up one last time. She could see a window, with an image of the outside. She thought about running to it, wanting to fully see what was surrounding them. But at the last second, she thought about all of the scientists and stayed put.
He just watched what was going on around him, the tiger leaving made him feel better, there wasn’t too much immediate danger. His shoulders relaxed slightly when suddenly there was a fire in the other room, the roar of the flames, the crakes of the red hot tendrils. It was loud in his ears, and since he had long ago figured out that others couldn’t hear as well as he did, he figured the others saw the light and smelt the smoke first, not the roaring noise it made in his ears. His eyes were caught on the glowing mass from the far room until it died down and the footsteps of someone coming made his attention move to the man rushing over here. He seemed okay with Matt’s response to the fire and took Ash to another room. He stayed where he was, watching, listening, his opinion of the man was slowly improving, and sow being that of a snail caught in a spiders web, seeing as he didn’t trust many people that easily. Though the man seemed nice enough, he even wanted to help with his arm, he knew that now. Maybe he would let him wrap it up, the pain was better after it was set in place, but he kept jarring it when he moved….
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Daren's stomach growled as he limped back into the front room. It wasn't a smart idea to be walking on his ankle, but what choice did he have? Maya had gone back to work, and there were the boys' wounds to look after. He glanced at Amp(Blast? He honestly had no idea). His arm looked better, now that it ws set, but it probably wasn't a good idea to keep it open like that. To hell with probably, that arm needs to be casted...Bandaged at the very least.... he thought with a sigh, pulling out a loaf of bread from the fridge, a jar of peanut butter from the small pantry and a plastic knife from a drawer, taking everything to his favorite spot on the couch and began coating slices with the peanut butter. He folded one in half, offering it to Amp.
(Lab)Camelion
"That depends on your definition of 'hurt,' Elle. Now that you are my potential apprentice, you are most definitely less likely to be beaten or experimented on for no reason. However," He said with a sigh, "My line of work isn't exactly risk free. People don't really like being poked with hot, sharp items or have their hands forcibly immersed in blocks of ice or being run through with blades just for me to get answers. And when they manage to fight back, yes, sometimes we will get hurt." He said this with a shrug; it was one of the perks, in his opinion. It meant that he was doing a better job testing strengths and fears than most of the scinetists.... "Over all, so long as we keep Lady Carmine happy with results, we will not be harmed by guards or the ones in white coats, I am confident in that."
Kyra curled into a ball with her eyes closed. Her breathing and heartbeat slowed. The mindless beast was telling the animal that she wasn't going to be probbed for awhile. So, the animal was urging her to sleep, like a grizzley bear in winter. It was something that any normal tiger in the wild, would never do, but Kyra wasn't normal. She was an abomination to both man and tigers. She didn't belong anywhere. She had no human home. She had no tiger territory. Niether human nor tiger.
"Shhh, my little girl. Finish your name and I'll put you to bed." Krista nodded and gripped the number two pencil in her hand. The point of the pencil dug into the paper. A minute passed, and the word became visible after her mother shined the flashlight onto the paper. Криста. Her name in Russian. "That's my little girl. Now off to the bed." Krista gave the paper and the pencil to her mother and buried herself back under the covers. Her mother clicked off the flashlight and kissed her on the head and whispered something in Russian.
Breathe. Heartbeat. Breathe... Heartbeat... Breathe..... Heartbeat..... Slower and slower did the pattern go. Until finally she could take it no longer. A restless feeling was blooming inside her chest and it was digging it's claws into what a person would call a heart. She growled and sat up. The room was empty.
Мэтт. Matt.
Заката. Dusk.
ампер. Amp.
взрыв. Blast.
ясень. Ash.
In that order, she imprinted their Russian and English names into the metal with her claws. She repeated the order over and over again, until their was no room but to imprinted their names on the metal floor.
He paused when the man started grabbing objects from around the other room, his arms full as he sat on the couch. The telltale sign being the small huff of air that came from the cushions, the crinkle of the plastic and the jostle o fabric. Amp’s eyes moved over as he heard a hallow swish and he watched as the man started slathering something on what he could only think of as bread. The bread wasn’t the kind he was used to but it was still bread none the less. Suddenly a folded in half piece of the bread was put out to him, some of the other stuff spread through the middle. He looked from the man to what he was holding out to him then hesitantly stretched out his good arm to take it. It was soft, and squishy, very much unlike the bread they were given at the Lab. He slowly took a bite, more like a nibble, and continued looking at the food.
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Kyra closed her eyes. If she closed her eyes she could just imagine four figures imprinted at the back of her eyes lids. One was strong had seemed like it had a white shadow that looked like a tiger, then the others, one was shy yet insightful with glowing eyes, and the other one had two faces. There was another figure... Sheopened her eyes and shifted into her tiger form, so she could pace back in forth near the door. She stopped and let out a roar followed by a couple more. Her roars sounded angry, yet lonely at it's core. And in some ways, she was.
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Daren
Daren smiled as Amp took the half-sandwich, making a full one for himself and eating it in a few bites. "It's called peanut butter," he told the kid with a bright grin, holding up the full jar so he could see the label(not sure if Amp can read or not). "It's pretty good, but nothing really special...." he continued making sandwiches, stuffing another in his mouth as he worked, creating a large stack of them.
Ash
They don't want you, Ashlyn. You are unpredictable, more dangerous than even Matthew. Fire and wind are an unstable combination; its only a matter of time before you hurt someone dear to you.... With a start, Ash sat up looking around in the dark room to figure out the source of the voice. There wasn't one, of course; she'd been having dreams like this every time her body slept long enough for her to relax. With a slight tremble she glanced at the door. It closed without her touching it, and she nodded. "I have to do something," she whispered to the dark, leaving a message only Matt would really understand, "They're all too hurt to help much, but I have to try....." With another sad glance at the door, she carefully, quietly opened the window, slipping out into the night, letting the cold windguide her hurried footsteps.
Kishan lifted his head and scanned the area looking for the famliar delicate looking girl. He didn't see her but he saw her hair and that was enough for him to run across the street, after her. He quickened his pace and stepped into step with her. "So, where we going at a time like this?"
A rumble started in Kyra's chest as the door groan open, reveaing gaurds with a few scientists behind them. Her wide, unblinking green eyes stared them down as a needle was shot into her abdomen. A whoosh escaped her lungs and her eyelids began to feel heavy, so she closed her eyes and dreamt of a world without a vast emptiness.
Hours, seconds, years, whatever the blackness was, it felt like it held her for a very, very long time. That is until she heard the vague words of a man singing. The timbre of his voice sent goosebumps down her arms, but then the feeling of being prodded by a metal needlel brought her out of her sleep. She opened her eyes and blinked when the bright lights began to blind her. She instictively tried to sit upwards but cool metal cuffs kept her from moving. They metal pinchers were wrapped around her at several points, the points being her wrists, ankles, her waist, and her neck. Suprise at not being able to break them easily made her cry out. "Little Child, be not afraid,
The rain pounds harsh against the glass, Like an unwanted stranger, There is no danger, I am hear tonight..." The voice of her father penetrated her fear, and made her stiffen before trying to glance around.
"You know, I had a daughter once. Two daugters to be exact. One was strong, and the other was weak. Sadly, the strong one died and I was left with the weak one to train. Sad ending though." Her father came into veiw and tapped her on the nose, making her flinch. "But maybe I can deal with it, and made the weak, strong. You probably won't survive the treatment, but it's worth a shot." He pulled back, out of her line of sight.
Kyra heard a whirring sound, and then, the bright light disappeared to reveal an odd metal device with more than five large needles. Tubes filled with some silver liquid connected to the needles, and they began to slowly lower themselves onto her. There were four needles heading for her face, two going for her thighs, three lined up straightly for her stomach, two at the heel of her feet, and two on each of her sides. Fear of the needles, and anger at herself for being weak, made her tremble. The needles finally raced across the short distance and peirced her flesh.
A scream ran through the room. Agony was written in her eyes as she struggled to get away from the burning pain spreading through her body. The needles felt like cold, yet burning hot fire pokers were digging into her flesh. The needles began to release the silver liquid and only then did she stop screaming. Her eyes rolled into her skull, and she began to shake like crazy. Half hearted moans came from her mouth as something began to happen... Her heart stopped beating.
Kyra felt as if she was still there, inside her body. She could hear the sucking sounds of the silver liquid beginning to run out, the whirring of the machine pulling the needles back, withdrawing them from her. She could hear the footsteps of the scientists, but it were as if she couldn't respond, or even do anything. It was like she was detached from her body.
The monitor that Kyra hadn't noticed before began to beep. Slowly at first, then began to beep faster and faster until, Kyra lurched upwards with a huge gasp that barely filled her lungs. She fell limply back onto the table, and began to cough out blood. Her eyes barely opened and closed as she tried to spit out the crimson liquid. "So, she survives."
Kyra's head fell to the side, as the gaurds came in and until her to dump into a movable cage. After doing so, they moved her back to her cell and threw her in.
Kyra moaned softly, struggling to grasp the concept of what had happened. She had died, and come back, but there was something... different about herself. There was still the living beating heart of a human, but where the beating heart of the tiger? Tears began to flow freely down her cheeks and onto the metal floor. She lifted her fist, then let it fall to the floor, beating on the floor with a vengence as she tried shift. To morph into the the four legged tiger with fiery golden eyes. "No, no, no!" She began to sob as she the feeling of nothing came over her. She couldn't feel the powers of the tiger, she couldn't feel the strong emotions she usually got before the change, she had no other self. A dark, vast oblivion began to embrace her as she realized that there was no more Kyra. There was no tiger. They took her and tore her in half. They hunted and shot down the untamable tiger, leaving only the helpless human behind.
Kyra became hollow, and curled into a ball. Without knowing it, she sent out a thought to Matt, Ash, Kishan, Dusk and Aramay."They took her away. I've failed you, all of you. I'm sorry, I can no longer protect you guys. I'm sorry." It was filled with hopelessness, failure, sadness and so much loneliness.
Kyra was nothing but the husk of her old self. Broken, shattered, vulnerable, and incomplete. She closed her eyes tightly, knowing that if she opened them, then they'd be blue and not green or gold. She kept beating the floor with her fist, barely even recognising the fact that her fist would soon become bruised, and that she'd already broke a finger. All she could feel was the absence of herself. How can you lose yourself, you may ask. But she could tell that she, herself, the tiger was gone. It was hopeless to live as a human with no meaning, no reason to live. When she was a tiger, she had meaning, and it was to protect the others. She knew how to live like that, but she didn't know how to live like a human.
Kyra didn't want to live life like a human. She bite her bottom lip, trying to build a dam up to stop the rushing waterfalls of her own tears. It didn't work. She burst into another fit of sobs, trying to keep herself from feeling the pain inside. Blind, deaf, and dumb, she was lost, and there was no way she could find herself again. They had killed her spirit, and she broke, she, Kyra, the indistructable tiger, finally broke. And now, it was the human part of herself that was giving up too.
"Whose gone? Who is 'she'? We have to get out. No one could protect us now anyway...Kyra?"
Kyra finally slumped to the ground, lying limp on the ground as her muscles seemed to tremble before going still. She had gotten Dusk's thought, but all she could send back was a sliver of what she was feeling.
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Ash bit back a startled cry as the Tiger from earlier seemed to appear right beside her and asked what she was doing. "I.... I have to help...... None of the others will be okay in time..... They'll kill them if I don't hurry....." As she spoke, her feet carried her faster, as fast as she could without running. It was a bad idea to run when the mutant you were talking with was a tiger. Something that, if provoked, could probably wound her. She bit down fear, shaking her head as she continued on. "And I won't let anyone stop me. No one, nothing, deserves to be in a cage.... Away from sight of the sky......." Her feet weren't touching the floor anymore; instead, she was gliding along on a thin carpet of ash. She closed her eyes, focusing hard for any sign of the others, allowing the wind to call out names for her. Dusk.......Kyra......Anyone.......If you can hear me..... I'm coming....... She rubbed her left arm as she walked, worrying about everything that could possibly happen to her all alone.
"And I won't let anyone stop me. No one, nothing, deserves to be in a cage.... Away from sight of the sky......."
Kishan put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her to a stop. "Calm down then. Your attracting unwanted attention." He whispered the words to her as he noticed a group of people watching from across the street. His blood boiled as he caught the smell of alchohol and... other type of drugs. He glared at them pointedly and whatever confidence they had seemed to shrivel up because the look in his eyes wasn't the look of a normal human. Making sure they wouldn't bother them, Kishan pulled Ash into one of the nearby alley's, making sure it wasn't the one where he killed the old man, he stopped and crouched down near a sewer drain. His nose twitched, but even a normal human would notice the sick smell coming from the hole in the ground. "Come on, it's faster and easier." He motioned to the hole, and without another word, pulled the metal plate off, stood and jumped into the hole.
No sound came from the sewer but after a second or two, Kishan spoke, "You better hurry and jump or I won't give you anymore of my help. Come on already, I'll catch you, just jump."
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Ash flinched slightly when Kishan touched her, but followed him into an alley. The smell coming from it was horrible!! It was worse than the smell of the vents where she had hid for years in the Lab....When the tiger-man disappeared into a hole in the ground, and called for her, she hesitated. Bad smells weren't usually where you wanted to go toward. But he seemed to know what he was doing; she would have led him into airvents, which were probably too close a space for him. She sighed, backed up a pace or two before hopping into the dark, foul-smelling hole. She wasn't sure she could trust Kishan, but she felt she had a better chance with him than on her own. So, down she went, and with a slight smile landed beside Kishan instead of letting him catch her. She had no idea whether or not he could see her, but she winked at him. "Thanks, but please remember where I grew up. I'm used to crawling through spaces that most rats wouldn't fit through, and keeping out of sight when I need to..." She smiled a little, gliding just above where the smell was coming from. "So which way?"
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Kishan snorted at Ash's comment. "I'm not doing what I'm doing to keep you safe. Don't be fooled by my kind." He shifted into his tiger form and loped forward, cautioning Ash to slow down. He stuck his head in the air and inhaled. He growled at the sickening smell entering his nostrils but focused on one smell, the smell of blood. The lab's drains and pipes also connected with the town's main pipe. It just meant that the blood they drew from their prisoners always went down the drain too. He walked forward, having no problem with seeing into the dark. He kept walking, and walking, and walking until he took a right, and then he stopped. He shifted and climbed up a grimy, and slippery ladder before he pushed off the metal plate above him. Light pierced the foul smelling tunnels and then, Kishan was standing above the ground. He looked around before motioning for Ash to climb up the ladders.
Amp
He was a bit surprised at the texture of the food that the man had given him, peanut butter he had called it. He hadn’t heard of it, so certainly hadn’t eaten it before but none the less it was the best thing he had eaten in weeks and he was going to enjoy it. He took a larger bite than the small bit he took the first time and chewed, the peanut butter stuck to the inside of his mouth and he frowned a little. He was a bit used to his mouth being kept shut, they didn’t like it at the Lab when he screamed and tended to break their machines, but this was different, it was like glue and he had to rub at the stuff with his tongue. He could hear Blast in the back of his mind chuckling, probably thinking he was an idiot or something. He ignored him and continued eating, pretty soon the sandwich was gone and he glanced at the stack next to the man, wondering if he was allowed another.
Blast
Blast was somewhat amused with the current situation, granted there was a lot he should be grumpy about and still is, but laughing at Amp was a reprieve from all the running and worry. Amp was on the verge of having a panic attack at having his mouth stuck together with the new food. He personally thought that if he could get enough of that stuff he could cause a lot of trouble, maybe loading a guard’s mouth with it and watching, now that would have been hilarious. But there were no guards, thank goodness, and he was still taking most of the pain from the broken arm, not that he would allow that man close again, it freaking hurt the last time he touched it.
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Ash sighed, runnign her hand through herdark gray hair. "I... I didn't mean it like that.... I just don't like it when people that know where I come from treat me like some kid..." She followed in silence then, afraid to upset Kishan, and angry with herself for having said anything in the first place. So she simply followed, and didn't speak. Bet you anything that the guards and scientists would have given anything to have me this quiet, she thought to herself, trying to take her mind off how scaredshe was. SHe didn't want to do this, but the others were in no condition to help. Aside from Kishan, she would have to do this alone..... She scrabbled up the ladder, looking around and keeping to the shadows.
Daren
Daren smiled, gesturing to the large stack of sandiches he had made. "Help yourself; I'm not going to deny people food." He glanced back at Matt, who was asleep again but had a dark grimace on his face. The look Daren himself got when he was having a nightmare, or when someone told him something he didn't like. He looked at Amp's arm again, and sighed. He had to wrap it up, and he doubted that the kid would let him, seeing as he was the one who had set it...... He sat back on the couch, eating a few more sandwiches as Matt sat up as though he had lain on a spring.
"She's gone. She ran off to go without us....." His expression darker than ever, he stood shakily headed for the apartment room door.
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"I... I didn't mean it like that.... I just don't like it when people that know where I come from treat me like some kid..."
Kishan shifted again and followed after Ash. He stepped lightly and silently, such a suprise for someone who knew nothing about tigers in their natural environments. He blue eyes glowed softly, but other then that, it was as if his white tiger seemed to change color. It the white took a shadowy white that would probably NOT take the notice of any type of person. "Then I'll make you a deal. I won't treat you like a child, if you promise not to let anyone corner." He thought to Ash just as the Lab came into veiw.
((Sorry for the short post. Brothers and Sister are home, the computer is being shared and I've already broken up two fights over and I don't want to break up another one, much less be one of the fighters.))
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She smiled, brushing the pale fur briefly. "Deal.... All you gotta do is call for me; if you need help I'll be in the vents...." Her words were almost inaudible as she dissapated, moving just as silently and easily twice as fast as Kishan's tiger form. Her mental self shivered at the thought of having this much unpredictability. Being wind and fire, she was far more dangerous than any of Matt's shadows..... If she had been in her normal form, she would have bitten her lower lip. Something wasn't right about what she was doing, but she had to. She had to get the others out before they were broken..... She had been so focused on moving that shortly after she got into the vents, she almost got stuck around a mutant. While female, she couldn't tell much more about said mutant..... "Hello.....?" She whispered, a tiny voice on the current that would easily be lost in a few feet,"I am Ashlyn...."
((sorry it's kind of short, very limited internet right now))
(I didn't get a notice that you posted for some reason!)
Before Ash nearly careened into her, Aramay heard something coming towards her through the vents. Whatever it was it wasn't human. There were not thumps or squeaks coming from the metal vents, just on fast and continuous 'fwoosh'. Trying to escape the sound did nothing to help as she found that the source of the noise almost wrapped around her. Aramay's first reaction was to yelp, jump back and swipe at the offending...thing. Her swing fell short when she found her back hitting against the vent wall. The shock of the sudden stop left her somewhat disoriented yet she still managed to keep her arms up in a defensive pose, the subconscious need to cover her face and eyes was overwhelming.
The lack of pain being inflicted on her in the next few moments left her confused. Even more so when she heard a meek hello. Her arms lower in an attempt to see where the voice was coming from. Which proved to be more troublesome than she expected. "Your not a guard." She wasn't even sure if it was a person. The shock of there being someone else in the vents with her was more than enough to baffle her for words. "Ara-may?" Her returned greeting felt misplaced.
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