Chapter 1
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry” I say cowering below Crimson Countess.
“Its all your fault they took him!” she screams. I cover my head as she lifts her hands and starts to glow when Gunpowder stops her
“Don’t waste your energy, just leave her here. The Russians will find her” he says pulling her away. She looks back at me
“I see you again, your dead” she seethes as she turns to leave as I sit there crying. They took Soldier Boy, but its wasn’t my fault, I swear. I sit holding my knees to my chest trying to figure out what to do now. I’m in the middle of this deserted camp as everyone either fled, got captured or killed. I hid behind some crates of supplies Grace Mallory had. Hm, I don’t even know what happened to her. I get up and walk around trying to find a way home or anything and I hear some rustling in some bushes. I stop and wait to see what happens, when its one of the men scared out of his mind. He starts yelling at me in Russian
“Hey, its ok. I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise” I say getting down with my hands up. He watches me closely and then slowly nods his head, when im grabbed from behind.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I say struggling against them. They start speaking to each other as they take me and put me in a truck with a bag on my head and my hands bound. Im thrown in the back and get squished between two men. We drive for what seems like ever when I finally feel the vehicle stop. I move my head around as they pull me out and take the bag off my head. I look up and it’s a huge metal building, must be a secret lab or something. They drag me in as they converse with each other and I just look at everything I can before im taken into a laboratory. I get pulled in and thrown to the floor and when I look up I see him
“Soldier Boy!” I yell as he looks at me. I start to struggle to get to him when they hit my head and knock me out.
I’m not sure how long ive been out, but im in a quiet room by myself. I remember them struggling with him, what were they doing to him. I hear the door to my room open and some older man comes in.
“Hello Ritchie” he says as I stand up and back away
“How do you know my name?” I ask scared. He just chuckles at me
“I know a lot more than you think. My name is Frederick Vought, and I have a proposition for you” he says walking in more. I walk back right into the wall.
“And what is that?” I ask looking at him.
“I have something I want to give you, to see how you do with it. Its called Compound V” he says pacing back and forth
“And what exactly is it supposed to do?” I ask as I go to sit down on my bed.
“It will turn you into a supe” he says as I jump up
“NO, absolutely not! I wont do it!” I say shaking my head. He motions for two of his men to come in and they come grab me and start to pull me out
“NO, no please I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to be a supe” I say struggling. They just pull me back in to the same lab I was in before but now there is a giant capsule in the room and its dark. I stop
“What is that?” I say shaking a little, afraid they might put me in it
“Oh, that’s nothing for you to worry about. That was for someone else” Vought says as he goes over and shines a light and I see Soldier Boy
“No, what did you do to him! Why are you doing this?” I say crying as I fall to my knees. He puts the light down
“Ah, I see” he says to his men
“What?” I ask looking between him and Soldier Boys capsule.
“You love him” he says kneeling by me. I jerk back
“what, no I don’t. I don’t” I say shaking my head, secretly yes, yes I do, with all of my heart but I cant admit that.
“Yes, you do. Why else are you so concerned for him” he says smiling and walking away.
“You know, it was his little girlfriend that told me where you all would be. I wasn’t sure what part you played in all of this, well besides being their bitch” he says laughing a little. That hurt, I look down trying to hold in the tears
“You did everything for them, and then for Crimson Countess to just sell you out like that, hm. How does that make you feel?” he says watching me. I don’t answer, I just keep my head down and hold the tears in, then I break
“How could she? How could she do that, he loved her” I say lifting my head.
“She didn’t love him, that’s why. But this is why I am offering you the V. If you become a supe, you can take your revenge on her and gunpowder. If memory serves me correctly, he wasn’t the nicest to you either.” He says pulling me up. I look at him with tears and shake my head
“He would do things, horrible things. I was supposed to be protected.” I say with my head down
“Take the V” he says lifting my head. i look at him
“what are you going to do with Soldier Boy?” I ask looking back over at him
“I have some testing I want to do, don’t worry, he wont be hurt” he says with an odd smile.
“Will you take the V and get your revenge?” he says. I look at Soldier Boy and back at him and nod.
I walk over to the table and sit as the doctor comes over
“Now, I am going to warn you, this is going to hurt” he says as he shows me this bright purple liquid. I look at it then back at him and nod. He goes around to my back and lifts up my shirt a bit and starts to put the needle in my spine. I start to scream in pain and jolt around as a couple guards come to hold me. I scream more as more of the V is injected. Finally, when all is done, they lay me on the bed. I lay there for just a minute, when my body starts to convulse. I start screaming and crying not knowing whats going on. The guards keep ahold of me so I don’t fly off and hit the cement floor. It slowly starts to fade when Vought speaks up
“Take her to lay down, then we will do the next treatment” he says as I look at him
“No, I don’t want to do it again” I say shaking my head
“Oh my dear, you don’t have a choice” he says with an evil smile. They take me to my room and slam the door as I lay on the bed face down. My back is burning and my body aches. I can feel it flowing through my veins. I slowly close my eyes as I hear my heartbeat pounding.
The next couple weeks it’s the same thing, everyday they inject more V into my body, the pain is getting better, but now Vought wants to see if I have any powers and what they are. Im sitting in a chair across from him
“Well, what do you feel?” he says watching me.
“I don’t feel anything” I say. I don’t, nothing feels different, I feel like me
“You don’t feel anything? Nothing?” he says getting frustrated as I shake my head. he gets up and throws the chair as I flinch
“All that time, wasted! And your useless!” he says coming to me as he grabs my throat. I grab his hand as I look in his eyes and I can see the light fading a bit as he lets go. I let him go and he falls to the floor. He coughs a couple times and looks at me with a smile.
“So, you do have powers, I wonder what else you have” he says standing up. He goes over and picks up a knife and throws it at me and it bounces off my skin. I look down shocked as I look back at him and he smiles as he comes toward me
“Good, just as I was hoping for. You really are made for Soldier Boy” he says
“I don’t understand, what does that even mean?” I say standing up away from him.
“You will be the one to defeat him when the time comes. He also is impenetrable, but you have the power to drain his” he says as I gasp
“I wont kill Soldier Boy” I say as I push him away and run. I start running down the halls away from it all. I hear screaming and realize its Soldier Boy. I peak into the window and see him laying on the table with them doing ungodly things to him. I hear more running as I take off through the halls, until a guard stands in front of me. I look at him and then my hands and touch him as he starts screaming as he falls to the floor. I take off out the door and keep running until I cant. I wait in a hole until I know things have calmed down and im not being chased anymore.
“Why did I take the V, I should have just let them kill me” I say holding my arms as I start to cry.
“Im so sorry Ben” I say as I lay down and fall asleep.
I get woken up by rustling, as I bolt up and sit extremely still. I see a woman come out, wait I know her
“Miss Mallory?” I say standing up and she looks right at me
“Ritchie are you ok? Ive been looking everywhere for someone” she says coming to hug me
“Wait, don’t touch me” I say putting my hands up and she stops
“What happened?” she says
“They gave me Compound V, they made me a supe” I say starting to cry and she backs up a bit
“Please, don’t leave me, im scared. I don’t know how to control it” I say shaking and she stops
“What is your power?” she asks
“I touch people and they get weak almost like they are being drained of life and apparently, I’m impenetrable” I say sitting down. She sits down next to me
“Does it happen if someone touches you?” she asks and I shrug my shoulders. I watch her as she lifts her hand slowly and goes to touch my arm as I flinch. I look at her and nothing.
“I guess the power is just when you use your hands to touch something.” She says as I sigh relief. She hands me a pair of gloves and I put them on.
“Alright my dear, lets try and find our way out of here” she says as I sit with my head down
“What is it?” she asks, I look at her
“They have Soldier Boy” I say upset. She sits back down
“Well, there is nothing you can do about it now, lets get your power under control and then we will try to figure something out, ok?” she says and I nod.
“Were going to my home in America, we should be safe there” she says pulling me with her and putting her arm around my shoulders. We walk back to the campsite and find a jeep. She goes under the hood and does something and it starts
“Thank god” she says as we get in and we head to the airport
“Why are you so concerned with Soldier Boy? Hes a dick” she says looking at me
“He isn’t all the time. I also did what ever they told me, so maybe that was the reason I never saw his bad side, but he wasn’t such a bad guy” I say
“He killed innocent people, you realize that” she says and I nod. She continues looking at me
“You love him that much, huh?” she says and I look at her
“I can see it. You trying to convince me hes not bad, when you and I both know he is. Your trying to make up for what he did. I get it, I do. So, I will do my best to help you” she says as I look at her.
“Really?” I ask and she nods. We get to the airport and board her plane and head back home.
