Author's Note: this is the first chapter in a story I've worked on in my spare time. I look forward to getting some feedback on it. The X-periment world is one where terrorists seized on a cheap new chemical weapon and started bombing civilians with it before realizing its mutagenic effects.
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Like any great escape, it started with a series of tests. Checking boundaries, seeing how lax his watchers had become. Simple things that, put together, made freedom more than just an empty promise his captors held out in return for cooperation.
In fairness to those jailers, they were overwhelmed. The sheer numbers of dangerous mutants found each day taxed their resources to the limit, even with government backing. Also, this captive was cooperative and had been for long enough that he was almost forgotten. What tipped the scales was no one realized his powers were growing.
So the tests went unnoticed. A nurse left one day with a few gray hairs. One guard whose fingernails grew longer than possible in 8 hours. Little things that people might see, but that they didn't really notice. Like a rusty spot on the door hinge in his cell.
In his 13th month of captivity, Subject 375 got his chance. They once again required him to boost the psi powers of their hunter team. He asked for a water bottle in return and actually got it. The nalgene type with a sports tip, perfect for squirting water.
.......
Subject 375, aka John Waverly, wakes with a nervous start. Stepping to the sink, he fills his water bottle and takes a few swigs before refilling it carefully to the top. Closing his eyes, he takes a few deep breaths and walks towards the cell door.
Two quick, measured squirts hit the hinges and coat them in water. A few seconds of concentration and rust starts appearing. The hinges are rapidly converted from solid steel to rusted out remnants that can't hold the weight of the door. It begins to sag inward.
A quick grab and strong pull bring the door scraping across the floor, opening it wide enough to step into the hall. Swift steps take him to the nearest door and he repeats his process, this time on the padlock on the outside. Pulling hard on it shatters the rusted inner mechanism and allows him to open the door.
John crosses the floor and grabs the inmate by her face, his hands tangling in her dirty blonde hair as they frame her face. Again he focuses. It takes only seconds, but the alarms are beginning to sound now and it seems like forever as he stares into the woman's dark brown eyes, watching the drugged look fade from them. He hopes that her drugged state really does indicate that she's a powerful mutant, someone who can help him break out.
Not one to put all his eggs in one basket, John steps away as the woman continues to regain her senses. Carrying the water bottle like a weapon, he runs into the hall and on to another door. Seconds pass as he breaks its lock and the sound of boots drumming against the concrete can be heard. A bullet ricochets off the wall near him as John ducks into the room he's just opened.
The man within is physically impressive. His bulk fills the small bed as John approaches and lays hands on his face. Looking into his eyes, John concentrates and forces the drugs out of the man's system, helping his body filter his blood and neutralize the tranquilizer.
John steps back and helps his fellow inmate to stand as screams start coming from the corridor. Gunfire rattles and the screams grow louder, all of them male. The big man shakes his head a few times to finish clearing it and looks at John.
"Thanks. Sounds like it's time to leave!"
John nods and darts to the door, poking his head around the doorjamb to see the woman standing in the hall facing a group of soldiers. Her hands are raised and a shimmering field is blocking bullets from their rifles. The shield is moving down the hall towards the soldiers like a floating wall. Some of them are down, bleeding from ricochets.
Crunching noises from inside the cell draw John's attention. The big man is literally punching the wall, powdering it with the strength of his blows. He is too strong, though, and his arms are leaving holes instead of collapsing larger sections of the wall. Realizing this, the brute grabs the wall through two of the holes and pulls into the cell.
John dives into the hall, slamming hard into the bare concrete floor as cinderblocks and concrete fly through the doorway neaxt to him.
"Sorry," comes a deep voice from inside the room. More concrete flies as John picks himself up. Looking at the woman, he sees her looking back, desperate.
"I can't hold this much longer," her voice rings in his ears, low and sweet but with an edge on it. "What do we do?"
"We're following him out this way," John says, pointing at the cell door obscured in a cloud of dust and debris. "Come on!"
Once outside the holding area John and the others have few choices. The big man goes through wall after wall, doing an end run around attempts to seal the facility. When the woman's strength starts to flag, the big man sends them ahead and collapses a ceiling behind them, digging himself out of the rubble and following after.
Within 10 minutes they exit the building, coming out onto a city street in downtown. John takes over and directs them into the utility tunnels. The ConEd logo on a sewer cover tips John to the fact they're in New York. ConEd proves to be their best friend and they are quickly lost in the mazes under the streets. After an hour of wading through sewage that makes them all naseous, they are certain their pursuers are lost behind them in the tunnels and stop to catch their breath.
After minutes of no sound but their own breath, John finally relaxes.
"Thanks. I wouldn't have made it out without your help."
The woman's eyes fix on John, "Whatever you did to me made it work. What's your name?"
"I'm John."
"Dawn."
"Call me Nikolas." The big man's voice boomed loud in the narrow tunnel. The woman winces at the sound and focuses on the giant. "So, John, what DID you do to us back there?"
"I'm a... performance enhancer. I can boost things, like accelerating your body's ability to deal with the drugs. I can do the same for people's powers."
"That's incredible!" The blonde's eyes are on John, measuring him as he pretends not to notice. He shrugs and looks at them both.
"I think we need to get out of these sewers and off the streets. Do either of you have any ideas?" Both shake their heads. "I've got a few things in mind. I'd like to know what you think."
They listen to John and as he talks their eyes grow more confident.
