Moonlight Sonata

36. New friends

We boarded the transit and walked to the final car, the emergency exit door right beside as as we took our seats. I looked down at my hands the whole time, counting off the seconds as we waited. We weren't the only ones in the car; a rather dingy looking man stood in front of me, and I couldn't help but cross my legs and keep my hands crossed over my chest. His eyes seemed to wander.

After a good five minutes of silent staring I heard a small noise and looked up slightly to see the man reaching towards me. I froze when his hand touched my bare thigh and it took everything in my power not to break every bone in his hand.

"You have awfully pretty legs," he commented, "what would it take to get you to open them for me?"

"Hands off."

I watched in shock as Nolan pressed a pistol to the side of the man's head. He pulled his hand back instantly, a big, doofy grin on his face as he laughed.

"My bad, I didn't know this one was taken," he said, "It's hard to find a whore that pretty, how much did you pay?"

Nolan went to pull the trigger and I grabbed the gun, watching out of the corner of my eye as he pulled it back. My anger flourished and I got to my feet, looking the man dead in the eyes. His face paled and I saw my mangled cheeks reflected in his glossy irises.

"You know, I don't necessarily condone killing humans," I whispered, "but you might've just sealed your fate, buddy."

I whipped Amelia out of my coat, holding her up to his forehead. He backed away with his hands in the air and suddenly I could see fire wavering in the edges of my mind. The poor guy looked like he was getting ready to have a heart attack.

"Y-You're one of those mutants on the news..." He gasped, "you're going to kill me!"

"That's right, but I'm not just any mutant," I snarled, "call me Hellfire, and remember that name. One day you'll be praying to it because I showed you mercy."

A small ding-ding came on in the background and I knew it was our time to evacuate. Nolan got out of his seat, his eyes having glazed over as he stared down at the man. He flinched back even further and I kicked the emergency door open, watching the tracks fly by beneath us. Nolan gripped my hand while we jumped out at the same time, hitting the ground gently above a telekinetic landing pad. The moment we got back up I saw the hole in the wall that was completely unnoticeable if you hadn't been looking. A lantern appeared and I saw the illuminated faces of my friends, all waiting on us.

"Ready to go?" Oracle asked, and I nodded, walking up to the group.

We all stuck closely to each other, the stench of decaying feces and decomposing rats enough to wrench even the strongest stomachs. I kept my hand over my nose the whole time as we walked through, keeping out the stench of the raw sewage by traversing along the small sidewalks beside it. Oracle produced a map from his pocket and we began to follow its twists and turns, getting lost within the maze rather quickly. Finally we got to a grated hole in the wall and everyone turned to me. With a simple flick of my hand the bars had imploded and we were left with ample room to climb through.

The hole led upward, all the way until we were crouching in a five foot tall room. Small beams of light came through and I knew that we were in the showers of the PASCI facility. I was glad that they weren't running and were completely empty, at least, from what I could see. Oracle produced what appeared to be a pipe bomb from his bag and stuck it beneath the flooring, ushering us back towards the hole. I stayed behind only to light it and slid in beside everyone else just as it went off. Shrapnel stuck in the ceiling above us but it left a wide open hole in the floor for everyone to climb through.