BNHA AU: Never Say Never

Chapter One: Three Years

Three years after Mommy died . . . Daddy kept saying he needed money. I didn't know why he needed money so bad, but he looked scared. Scary men kept coming to the house screaming at Daddy, then when they left he would scream at me. Daddy is scary when the men leave . . . he makes me cry.

"Is this the child?" A man asked.

"Y-yes . . . her name is Mayoko." Dad said.

"And you say she has exceptional abilities." Another asked.

I was playing on the floor in the kitchen when two men walked through the door. They were tall and wore white coats, Daddy was very friendly to them . . . he's not like that with me. The men look around the house, not really listening to what Daddy was telling them. One of them looked at me, he pushed his glasses up against his nose and stared at me with a scary smile . . . I felt tears running down my cheeks.

"Ever since she was born, she's been doing really weird things." Dad said, "Levitating, teleporting . . . lifting things with her mind."

"Interesting." The man said.

The man picked me up, looking at me all over. He lifted my shirt and looked at my back and belly, then he looked at my arms. I knew I had a bunch of scratches and marks from when Daddy got mad at me . . . I didn't tell them that.

"Has she caused harm to herself in any way?" The other man asked.

"Papa told me that I need to have pain tolerance." I said.

Daddy glared at me, so I covered my mouth. The men looked at each other, handed my father a large suitcase. I watched his eye light up as he looked at the money.

"This should cover the child's payment." The man said, "We'll be taking our leave."

"Yeah, yeah . . . sure." Daddy said.

"Say goodbye, young one." The other man said.

"Bye bye." I said.

Daddy looked at me for the first time, then looked at the suitcase. For the first time, he looked like he was about to cry. He waved at me, then dropped the suitcase. I think he finally noticed what he did. He started crying on the floor, I could hear him. The scientist that was holding me patted my head, I looked at him.

"Don't worry . . . he'll be fine." He said, "Grown ups usually do stupid things that they later regret."

"What does . . . regret mean?" I asked.

"It means that you feel bad or silly for something you did." He explained, "Now let's get you to your new home."

I lived in what they called, The Facility, for 3 years. A few months after I first arrived, I befriended the one called Issac. He was in charge . . . but about a year in, he stopped showing up. Once he left, the other people in white were really mean. They weren't nice to me like Issac, and before I knew it . . . there were more kids living in the facility.

I was never allowed to be with the other kids . . . They made me stay inside and play their games.

"Subject 151 . . . lift the objects with your mind." A man said.

Everyday it was the same thing . . . lift the objects with your mind, teleport from point A to point B, break this object and reassemble it . . . I hate playing those games.

"Subject 151, you are getting distracted." The man sighed.

"I'm bored." I said, "I wanna play a different game."

"No." He said.

"I don't wanna play with you." I snapped.

The man was getting angry, I was getting angry. I had been playing the same games for a year, I was tired of it. When I played with Issac, he changed the games so that it was fun. These people aren't fun . . . they're mean.

"Lift the object!" He growled.

"NO!" I snapped.

"Do your exercises, 151!" He snapped.

"I WANNA PLAY WITH ISSAC!" I screamed.

Suddenly, he got quiet. The man turned around, opened a box and turned a red button. I looked at him, arms folded. Suddenly, he started turning the button . . . my skin started to tingle. As he kept turning, the tingle started hurting a bit . . . my skin was buzzing like it was bubbling underneath. I started crying, everything hurt. It was a long time before the pain finally stopped, I was lying on the floor holding myself.

"From now on . . . if you do not cooperate, you will be administered a controlled shock." The man said, "Now get up and do your exercises."

The next two years were awful. If I didn't do as I was told, I was shocked. If I didn't work fast enough, I was shocked. If I cried, screamed . . . anything they didn't like . . . I was shocked. Soon, I stopped talking. It felt like everytime I opened my mouth, I would do something wrong. When they would ask me questions, I wouldn't answer. They'd shock me, I'd scream . . . but never answer. . . then I'd be back in my room.

"Subject 151's progress isn't doing so good." Ellis Hunter said.

Ellis Hunter was the assistant to the former head scientist, Issac Ross. However, Dr. Ross was dismissed from the project several months ago. Dr. Edward Phyllis had soon taken his place, turning what had initially started out as a harmless quirk research project . . . into something far worse. The research team had taken several children from the local city and ran various tests on their abilities. If the children did not cooperate, they were either starved or shocked.

"It's fine." Dr. Phyllis sighed, "We're well aware of 151's poor performance."

" . . . and just what do you plan to do about it?" Ellis asked.

"As we speak, we are currently administering various performance enhancers to see if they help her focus and perform better." Dr. Phyllis said.

"What performance enhancers?" Ellis asked.

"Have a look for yourself, Dr. Hunter." He smiled, handing her a document.

"Caffeine?! Steriods?!" She gasped, "She's only . . ."

"We're aware of her young age, which is why we've minimized her dosages per 4 hours." He stated.

Using drugs on children to make them work better, this didn't make sense. Ellis knew this wasn't right, but what was she supposed to do? Issac was gone, and she wasn't stupid enough to run to the police . . . not unless she had a death wish. Over the years, several other scientist within the facility planned to go to the police about the children's care . . . but they all mysteriously disappeared.

"This is unacceptable." Ellis said, "These children were meant to be humanely tended to while we researched their quirks . . . not treated like lab rats."

"You give them more credit than they deserve, Dr. Hunter." Dr. Phyllis sighed, "These children are freaks of nature . . . outcast. Nobody cares what happens to them at the end of the day."

"Where did you even find these other children?" Ellis asked, "Subject 151 was purchased from her father, but I don't recall hearing anything about funds being used to purchase the other 50."

"The origin of Subjects 200-250 is no concern of yours." He said, " . . . and if you continue to question our methods, Dr. Hunter . . . you will be dismissed."

Ellis closed her mouth, fists balled up at her sides. She ran a hand through her hair, avoiding his eyes. She knew she was no match for Dr. Hunter. However, she needed to find a way to save these kids.

"This is far from over." Ellis growled, storming off.